BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND
by ULYFERAL
Summary: Just after the SWAT Kats and Feral end a battle with an omega strange aliens suddenly appear and demand Feral return with them. What happens next shocks everyone, especially Ms. Briggs.
1. Chapter 1

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 1: The Queen Commands

The day had begun like any other. Feral had been working through a pile of reports when an alert sounded about a rampaging robot heading for city hall. Sighing in annoyance, he headed out in his police cruiser.

The robot apparently had gotten away from the control of scientists at Pumadyne and was singlemindedly charging down main street causing destruction. He was pissed the scientists failed to report it while it was still outside the city. The thing was over ten feet tall and had a very hard metallic body. Apparently it had been made along the lines of the Metallikats bodies but without the benefit of their sentient minds running it.

Feral's troops engaged it with laser, bazooka and tank fire without making a dent in it. He was thinking of using an electronic scrambler next when his least favorite pair of defenders arrived.

"Crud! Looks like a giant-sized version of Molly Mange," T-Bone shouted as he flew the Turbokat close to the walking metal form to study it.

"Yeah and from the information I'm getting, it's almost made of the same alloy too. It's been resistant to everything they got," Razor answered, distractedly, as he studied his array of armament to see what might bring the thing down.

Feral scowled up at them. Despite what they might do, he wanted to see if his scrambler would work and gave the order to fire before the SWAT Kats could interfere. In seconds, a barrage of electrical energy struck the robot.

While they watched, it seemed the robot had been stopped but to everyone's dismay, it had only paused a moment then the electrical barrage dissipated without harming it at all and it continued its march on the city.

Feral gnashed his teeth in frustration. Above him, Razor noted the lack of effect from the scrambling device which nixed his trying one of his own. Frowning he decided to try a combination weapon he'd developed that fired scrambling energy but was coupled with the effects of one of his banshee missiles.

"I'm going to try something new, T-Bone. Hold us steady," he warned his partner then barked, "missile away!"

It struck true, stopping the robot in its tracks again but this time it shuddered and made strange noises. After several long minutes, it exploded into many deadly pieces of shrapnel.

Feral ducked behind his vehicle as did his troops as metal sprayed down on them. The metal caused mini fires here and there, flattened cars, knocked over lamp posts, and broke windows. Fortunately, it didn't manage to do more than cause a few minor burns and cutting injuries among the Enforcers and none on the civilians who had, fortunately, already escaped or hid. It was several long minutes before the explosion and rain of metal ceased but finally it did. Feral groaned in disgust. He could see a long cleanup ahead of him.

The SWAT Kats were satisfied their work was done until...

"T-Bone, is that Callie's sedan down there?" Razor shouted at his partner.

Without answering, the pilot took them lower and saw it was indeed the deputy mayor's vehicle. What had them alarmed was the huge piece of metal skewering her car, crushing the top. They couldn't see if she was even in the vehicle. Needing to know, T-Bone quickly set the jet down in an empty parking lot.

"Crud! I hope to hell she isn't in that thing," Razor said as the canopy shot open.

T-Bone said nothing as he leaped to the ground and ran to the familiar green sedan in a frantic haste, his partner on his heels.

Feral was shouting orders to his Enforcers to get things cleaned up and see to any wounded when he heard the Turbokat coming closer instead of leaving. Looking up in surprise, he noted them coming down to a landing rather quickly. Frowning he began to head toward them but before he got more than halfway, he saw the pair leaped out of the cockpit and head in a perpendicular angle from him. That's when he noticed the deputy mayor's plight. Changing direction he ran to catch up to the pair.

The vigilantes arrived just ahead of Feral and were studying the problem carefully. The robot's arm had slammed down on her car while pieces of its body armor had pierced the driver's door. This effectively left Calico Briggs trapped in her car. That's if she was even in it.

"Ms. Briggs, are you in there?" T-Bone called to her through a smashed window, praying he wouldn't get an answer.

"I'm here and I'm okay, just can't get out!" Came her voice somewhere near the floor in the back of the car.

Though unhappy she was in there, he was greatly relieved she was okay. She had apparently seen the danger in time to be able to get in the back before it struck. Now they had to get her out of there.

Feral now joined them and was peering into the car as well. He was thinking of calling the fire department to extricate her when Razor spoke up.

"We can't wait for other assistance, Commander. Listen closely and you can hear the metal still compressing the top. The weight is too great for the roof to hold much longer. I don't think she has enough time for the fire department to get her out of there."

Feral frowned at him but did swivel his ears forward and listen hard. He sucked in a breath when he heard the soft groaning of metal as it was gradually being squeezed downward.

"Kat's Alive!" He exclaimed, his mind raced over how they could get her out quickly. He looked around urgently but nothing came to mind.

"Don't worry, we have welding torches. We'll simply cut her free on this side where she's at." Razor said, already turning his torch on, his partner come up to him and did the same. As they worked, Razor gave instructions to Callie and Feral.

"Ms. Briggs! "Lean this way but be careful of the flames and hot metal. When we get a big enough hole made, Feral will grab you and pull you out." She gave a weak acknowledgment and got herself in position.

Hearing that, Feral moved to stand at one side of Razor then waited tensely. Both SWAT Kats cut as fast as they could through the center of the door, leaving the frame to hold up the roof to keep it from collapsing too soon. In minutes, the piece of hot metal fell to the ground. As soon as it did the roof groaned louder and more ominously. Galvanized, Feral reached in and grabbed Ms. Briggs who had her arms up and ready. Snatching her, he yanked as hard as he could and allowed himself to fall backward to get out of the way faster.

It proved to be a smart move. Just as her feet cleared the wreckage, the roof collapsed, flattening the car in seconds.

Everything had happened so fast, they all felt suspended a moment in time before the sounds of what happened registered to their ears...from the sound of the squealing metal to Feral's oof of displaced air from Callie's weight on his chest and contact with the ground.

The two lay stunned for a long moment before T-Bone reached down and lifted the disheveled Callie to her feet

"Are you okay, Ms. Briggs?" He asked, concerned.

"I am now. Thank you all for getting me out of there," she said, voice still shaky.

Feral rolled over and climbed to his feet, clothes dusty and dirty. He sighed in relief, that had been too close. He shook his head at the sight of her car. Looks like she'll finally be getting a new car, he mused.

For once he couldn't fault the SWAT Kats for interfering, even though he badly wanted to. They had stopped the robot before it could do anymore damage and aided in the rescue of the deputy mayor. Sighing, he turned to speak with her again when something heavy slammed into his back, sending him face down on the pavement again.

The SWAT Kats and Ms. Briggs gaped at the sight of a strange seven foot winged creature standing over the prostate form of the Commander. Feral's Enforcers and a news crew were rushing over to them, coming to a halt to gape too.

The creature resembled a Kat, sort of, with dark brown fur tipped in red and hair that came up high between its ears then descended its back in a thick mane of black streaked with red but there the resemblance to a Kat ended.

Staring closer, those watching the thing realized this had to be an alien as there were too many other things about it that couldn't have been produced on their world.

The alien possessed huge slit-pupiled eyes of green-gold, had long ears with red tassels of fur on the tips and between them on the skull were strange looking antenna. Gleaming and wicked looking white tusks extended upward out of its mouth on either side though the rest of its teeth were very similar to a Kat's. It's body wasn't anymore impressive than a normal well built male of their species though there was no way to know if it were stronger than they were by just looking. Whipping behind it was a long, thin, tail covered with only a thin layer of fur and ending with a feathery fan of fur at its tip. It's paws and feet possessed deadly looking long black claws, much longer and sharper than a Kat's. On its back were a huge pair of ten foot wings of blood red outlined with black that were folded on its back at the moment.

Finishing off it's alien appearance was a form fitting uniform that covered its torso with a strange emblem embossed on its breastplate of a yellow many pointed star. It had no weapons but its natural ones.

Shaking off their shock, the SWAT Kats surged forward to try and remove the creature from Feral's back. But before they could touch the thing, they bounced off a strange kind of shield.

"What the heck?" T-Bone blurted..

"Some kind of force field," Razor growled, dismayed by this turn of events. He hurriedly tried to think of a way to remove it without harming Feral.

Feral, meanwhile, got over being summarily smacked to the pavement again and rolled his body rapidly to see who had hit him. He stared up at the creature. Recognition ripped through him causing him to freeze and simply gape.

_"You are summoned!" _It hissed in a strange gruff sounding language that Feral understood easily but no one listening could..

Feral simply continued to gape at it.

_"Are you addled?" _It snarled impatiently. _"The Queen commands your return. Come with me!" _It ordered coldly, expecting to be obeyed and when Feral still did not move to get up, it growled in annoyance and reached down, grabbing Feral's right arm, and pulled.

That snapped Feral back to himself. Fury consumed him as he leaped to his feet, yanking himself away from the creature. Roaring his anger, everyone gaped as his body suddenly underwent a startling change. Within moments, he now resembled the alien...a much taller, more powerful version of the other who staggered back in shock as if this wasn't what it expected to find. Outside the force field, everyone took an involuntary step back.

The transformed Feral's fury fairly made the air shimmer with barely controlled energy that caused the force bubble to glow.

"She commands?" Feral roared in the language of his adopted world, eschewing the one of his birth. "She who stripped me of all that I was now commands my return? How dare she?"

The alien that had jumped him eyed Feral in confusion. Lowering it ears in defense against the volume level of the furious other, it shook its head, unable to understand what the being was saying but knowing it was angry.

One couldn't blame the smaller alien for being afraid, Feral was the image of raw power and sheer intimidating size as he was now over eight feet tall, broad through the chest which was heavily muscled and eyes that were a glowing blood-gold. Though he spoke the language of his adoptive world, the accent was the same as the alien's but filled with far deadlier menace than the alien's had been.

Apparently realizing it was no match for Feral, the alien summoned help. Suddenly, Feral was surrounded by more of the strangers who seemed to have appeared almost magically.

Feral's eyes narrowed with deadly intent as one of the new arrivals spoke. _"The Queen commands you to return! No resistance is allowed!" _

"Here is my answer to her command!" Feral growled, threateningly, then lunged at this new speaker.

Long claws extended, he proceeded to rip the speaker to shreds. After only a seconds stunned surprise, the others leaped on Feral, burying him with their bodies. The pile heaved up and down for several minutes then bodies were flung outward to hit the force field, covering it in blood and other bodily fluids as they slid down its sides. Standing in the center of the carnage was a thoroughly blood covered Feral.

Callie gasped and turned her eyes away from the terrible scene as did many of those watching but a few hardened Enforcers and the SWAT Kats only grimaced at the bloody scene, too used to this sort of thing fighting the omegas to be shocked by it.

"Holy shit! What a powerhouse and is he ever pissed!" T-Bone swore softly.

"Oh yea! But why...that's the question I want answered. After all, these are his people. How did he get here? And why is he objecting to leaving with them? I don't like all these questions, buddy" Razor muttered, disturbed by what all this might mean to their world.

"Neither do I. The omegas are bad enough without adding aliens to the mix," his partner agreed, grimly.

Feral ignored all those outside the energy sphere as he simply stood there heaving for breath, eyes glowing madly. It was hard to determine how badly he was injured, if he was at all, with all that blood on him. His head tilted back and he stared upward at the sky. Roaring defiance, he suddenly began glowing then a burst of energy bright enough to blind everyone exploded outward. The smell of blood filled the air letting them know the force field was gone.

"Well there went the force field," Razor muttered the obvious, raising his glovatrix.

"Yea but now what's going to happen?" T-Bone growled, raising his glovatrix as well, preparing for more trouble, though uncertain if they were even strong enough to fight these guys.

Before anyone could dare to ask the changed figure of Feral for answers, the air near him shimmered again for a moment and yet another creature appeared.

This visitor was obviously older and wore a uniform that appeared to indicate a greater rank than those that lay dead. The visitor stared down at the carnage at his feet for a moment, dispassionately, then looked up and stared in careful appraisal of the impressive figure before him.

Giving a quick nod of approval at what he was seeing, the older alien began to speak in the language of the planet they stood on. "Greetings Ulysses. It seems being exiled on this world has been favorable to you. Dormant genes have been awakened and given you the form of our ancients which will suit the Queen's needs better than hoped." They might have just been at a business meeting for all the attention he gave the smell of death and show of violence laying around his feet. His manner was unnerving to those listening nearby.

Feral's eyes narrowed as he slowly lowered his arms, his body thrumming with tension. In a deep rumbling voice that sounded like thunder, he snarled, "Why are you here Ztoram?"

"The Queen commands your return," the alien, named Ztoram, intoned blandly, ignoring the disrespect the traitor was giving him. Retrieving him was far more important.

Feral lunged at the older creature. Ztoram merely frowned and held his ground, not intimidated even though the other male was now no more than inches from his face.

"Why? Why now?" Feral demanded coldly.

"Your genes are needed to strengthen the weakening blood line of our people," Ztoram stated flatly.

"What gall!" he spit, disgusted. "After throwing me away so long ago, you now come back only because I'm of use to you? My genes are the same as they've always been and could have been used then but you lost your opportunity. I care not if you and all the royal line perishes. Perhaps it is the will of the mother sun that you shouldn't continue so the rest of our world has a chance to replace you with something better. Either way, I care not. I will not sire her next litter," Feral sneered.

Ztoram gave him a frosty look. "It matters not why the Queen wants you. Your only duty is to obey and return as ordered."

Feral smiled. It wasn't nice and made those watching shudder with fear. Ztoram didn't react though a tiny feeling of uncertainty crept up his spine. This was not the sniveling weakling they'd left here years ago, something very deep and profound had happened to him.

"And my response to that is a loud...NO!"

Ztoram blinked, a truly stunned look of disbelief flashed in his eyes. "You would dare..." He sputtered.

"I have nothing to lose! She killed all those dear to me then stripped me of my position and dignity before condemning me to this place. No reason did she give for her behavior. Nothing I did merited what she did to me and mine. I have no reason to give a damn what she wants." Feral hissed. "I have made a life for myself here and will not give it up for a demented ruler."

Anger at this subject's continued disobedience and back talk was getting under his fur finally. In a tight, stiff voice, Ztoram ordered, "You will return to the ship as is your duty to your Queen. Nothing less than obedience is expected of you and continuing this defiance will only get you dragged there in electron shackles."

Looking down at all the dead bodies then up at Ztoram, Feral grinned. "That's what they tried to do. Want to give it a try yourself?" he dared the second in command.

Ztoram's mouth gaped opened at Ulysses' blatant threat then snapped closed. Glaring at Feral furiously, a brief stab of pity for the fool passing through him when he signaled a return to the ship, appearing to vanish to those watching.

Feral huffed out a breath then prepared for more trouble, tilting his head up to watch the heavens alertly, he gave a loud command, not bothering to look around to see if it was obeyed, "Better clear the area! Hell is coming and you don't want to be at ground zero!"

A frisson of fear raced up the spines of all the watchers. The SWAT Kats and Enforcers quickly reacted to the command, turning to begin pushing and shouting at all the spectators.

"You heard him! Everyone clear the area!" T-Bone barked. Razor grabbed Callie by the wrist and pulled her further away from the conflict where the Enforcers had set up a blockade. Now no one was within a mile of Feral's defiant stance in the center of the street. Even the Katseye News crew had decided staying near the SWAT Kats would be a safer option.

The silence seemed to drag on as they waited and watched. Less than ten minutes after the bystanders were removed from harm's way, a sudden burst of light blinded everyone as it struck a return volley sent by Feral.

For several long, terrifying minutes the two blinding lights clashed hiding Feral from view until finally a last burst from the ground overwhelmed the one coming from above. Silence reigned again and standing untouched was the Commander, still alert and waiting, apparently unfazed by the attack. He continued his vigilant stance, his gaze unwaveringly staring upward.


	2. Chapter 2

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 2: The Queen's Response

"He said what?" A stunning looking female with huge orange red wings, spread now in fury, shouted in disbelief.

Ztoram eyed her warily, many a messenger had suffered pain at her paws for bad news. "He refuses, my Queen."

"Who said he had a choice?" She was incredulous.

"He's changed, my Queen. This planet seems to have agreed with him and he's a fitting mate for you now but he's also become a warrior since his banishment. He is formidable as shown by how easily he killed the first group that went to retrieve him. Even after a concentrated energy blast failed to end his defiance. He was powerful enough to have burned out the ray." He had to admit to himself, he'd badly underestimated Ulysses.

Queen Shlora glared at him in disbelief and anger. "How dare a subject of mine refuse my command? Such an affront is an automatic death sentence. If we did not need the fool's genes, we'd have his atoms dispersed immediately." She paced a moment, fury making her spread her wings in agitation. Stopping before her second in command, she snapped, "I will transport down to see this creature for myself!" Turning away, she closed her wings and stalked toward the turbolift.

Ztoram followed her quickly though he had grave misgivings about this confrontation but he was smart enough not to tell the Queen that as he knew she'd turn him to ash for daring to voice an objection.

Four of her guards, Ztoram and the Queen transported down, appearing instantly before the formidable form of a tall Frendorian male.

The Queen's anger froze a moment as she stared in shocked surprise. She was struck dumb with amazement at this image of the best her race could be but hadn't been for more than a century.

Ztoram hadn't been completely accurate. Ulysses was the epitome of what a Frendorian male should look like. Her heart was galloping with excitement. Oh, what wonderful kits he'd sire!

Feral glared at the Queen who had ruined his life and abandoned him here. He was happy for the first time in his life and healthier than he remembered ever being. No way did he want to leave this for the barren wasteland that was his former home. He would much rather die.

Regaining her composure, she straightened to her full height which was still a head shorter than her errant subject who towered over her. Around her the Katizens of this world stared at her in fear and amazement. She ignored them.

Despite being shorter, it was obvious she was of his species. As female, her fangs were daintier and she had no tusks. Her coloring was the same as his except for her wings and hair which were a brilliant sunrise orange shading to blood red at the tips.

She wore a tight fitting bustier with that strange star-like emblem on it. Attached to it was a red orange cape that reached her knees, on her lower half was a skin tight pair of red pants with knee high black boots and a small diadem with a yellow stone in its center sat atop her head of flaming tresses.

She eyed the male regally. "So, Ulysses, Ztoram was correct. This planet brought out your dormant genes. You're excellent for restoring our kind to its former prominence. But what is this I hear you don't' wish this honor?" She said silkily, steel buried in the sugary tone.

Feral snorted disrespectfully at her. "Honor! What honor? You destroyed all that I held dear then cast me here like so much garbage. I cared for you with all I had and you treated me like that? This is my home now...get off it!" He snarled, flashing his fangs threateningly so that there was no mistaking his hostile intent.

Her eyes narrowed. "You seem to harbor the idea you have a choice my subject. You need a lesson on manners and on who your life depends."

Feral laughed rudely. "Oh please do try! I care not if you kill me but you will never take me willingly."

She blinked and nearly gaped at him. 'Is he defective after all?' She wondered in concern. Angry at his continuing defiance and hoping he wasn't addled in the head, she made a hidden gesture and her warriors immediately leaped forward.

But within moments of engaging Feral, her four warriors were so much meat and very much dead. 'Oh my yes! A magnificent warrior but intractable. We'll soon sort that out as soon as he's aboard and on the way home.' She pressed something on her wrist and more warriors appeared.

Another bloody battle ensued and again Feral was the victor. Though he bore many wounds, still he stood defiantly before her.

The SWAT Kats watching from next to their Turbokat stared in stunned amazement. Feral was turning out to be a real hard ass and tough. A shiver went down T-Bone's spine as he recalled all the times he'd insulted and belittled the Commander. He'd been truly playing with fire and was amazed he hadn't been reduced to the state of those warriors.

Razor felt the same way and was really grateful Feral had not allowed his temper to ever get away from him. But right now, he had a bad feeling this Queen had something really nasty up her sleeve. It was obvious, she wanted Feral bad and wouldn't accept a no.

"T-Bone get ready!" He said softly to his partner as he brought up his glovatrix and focused on the scene intently.

His partner did the same though he had a confused look on his face. "What are we going to do, Razor. They have much more powerful weapons than us."

"We can distract. I've got a bad feeling that witch will do something underhanded real soon. She wants Feral bad."

"No kidding," the tabby muttered, though he never thought he'd be watching Feral's back.

The Queen tapped her bracelet again. Another warrior appeared directly behind Feral and he held some kind of big weapon in its arms.

The instant he appeared, Razor and T-Bone fired missiles at him. The smaller SWAT Kat had fired a scrambler while T-Bone chose a tarpedo. Both struck the warrior true...the scrambler made it howl in pain and drop his weapon while the tarpedo blinded him.

In one swift, eye blurring move, Feral whirled around and cut the warriors head off neatly with his wicked claws, gave the SWAT Kats a look of thanks before turning back to face the Queen.

Queen Shlora hissed in fury. The odd creatures of this planet had surprised her by interfering. Narrowing her eyes, she began a gesture that was aborted by Feral who lunged toward her, smacking her across the face which sent her flying toward the ground.

Ztoram was so shocked by the attack on the Queen, he froze for a second but woke quickly to catch her before she could hit the pavement. When she was safe on her feet, he leaped at Feral, claws fully extended.

Fury lent him the strength to knock Feral off his feet but he didn't have the advantage very long. He quickly learned Ulysses had learned to fight like a warrior and was quickly subdued with some very well placed punches as well as one dirty blow below the belt that left him curled on the ground in agony.

The Queen was appalled by how easily her second in command had been put down. Furious beyond sense now, she screamed and blasted Feral with an energy burst strong enough to destroy anything in its path but to her shock, he shot one of his own, rebounding hers back at her. She barely had time to shield herself before it hit and dispersed around her causing the ground and anything else to burst into flames or melt.

Struggling to his feet, Ztoram quickly assessed the situation and realized they were losing. Going to the Queen's side, he signaled for an emergency transport which picked them and all the bodies up around them to the ship. When they reappeared in the transport room, the technician gaped in horror at all the dead bodies and nearly fainted at the sight of the Queen sporting a bloody lip and beginning bruise on her left cheek. He hurriedly summoned medical aid.

The Queen shoved Ztoram away from her and screamed, "I want him taken and I want it done now!"

Ztoram grimaced as his injuries kept him from straightening completely. Despite his condition though, he had to make the Queen see reason. They'd already tried brut strength. He didn't know what else to do yet and wanted a little time to plan. He dared to shout over her temper tantrum to get her attention.

"My Queen. We need to plan the best way to take him. Do you want him dead?"

She nearly lunged at him but stopped herself. Heaving for breath, her paws clenching and unclenching, she worked to control her temper. Turning away from her second in command, she began to pace the room. The door slid open to admit the medical staff who hurried to her side.

She stopped moving and allowed them to treat her while her mind whirled with angry thoughts. Ztoram was right. A plan was required to get her prize safely captured and when he was in her custody, then she would punish him for daring to lay a paw on his Queen.

When the medicals were finished, she looked over at Ztoram who was also being treated. "Fine, you're right. Think of a way to take him in custody without damaging him and be quick about it. I'll be in my quarters." She turned away and stormed out of the transporter room.

Ztoram sighed mentally. Relieved to get a breather, he left the transporter and summoned his staff for a battle meeting.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The Queen's sudden departure left Feral reeling a little. The bloodlust of battle was slow to cool. His body trembled with left over adrenaline and he hurt in a lot of places but he dared not lower his guard. He waited for more than hour while the watchers stayed silent, waiting with him. The fires made by the Queen continued to burn brightly.

Finally, the SWAT Kats decided nothing more was going to happen and walked up to Feral cautiously.

"Commander, I think she's licking her wounds and planning how to take you alive," Razor said quietly.

Feral blinked at the smaller SWAT Kat a moment, looked skyward for several minutes, then back down again at them. "I believe you're right." He grimaced. "I hate the fact I'm forced to wait for her to come to me rather than take the battle back to her before she can cause even more trouble for me."

"Well, now there's where you're wrong." T-Bone smirked. "We can go into space...remember Mutilor?"

Feral brightened. "That's right you can." Then an evil look slid across his face that made both SWAT Kats shiver a little. "Also you have a treasure trove of unique weapons they've never seen before that will give us an advantage. I'm assuming you're willing to stay and fight with me?"

"It's our world too. Who says she won't try something with us once she has you?" Razor said flatly.

"She shouldn't as I'm her target, but you're right, why take the chance. So thank you for your assistance. We should leave immediately."

Razor shook his head. "Not yet, Commander. First you need to be at the top of your form and that means letting the medics treat your injuries and eat something. And we need to refuel for such a trip. We'll go do that immediately and return quickly, okay?"

The Commander cocked his head and thought a moment. He realized Razor was right. This battle had to count and he couldn't do that hurting. He nodded and walked toward the medics while the SWAT Kats headed to their Turbokat and took off.

The medics found Feral a bit intimidating but treated his wounds without comment while the fire department rolled in and took care of the flaming cars.

"Commander, what do you intend to do about this Queen and where did the SWAT Kats go?" Callie asked him, watching as he was treated. Close up, Feral was physically intimidating but she was surprisingly unafraid.

"I'm going up to her ship and have it out with her. She won't be expecting that and I'll have the upper paw. The SWAT Kats have volunteered to take me and stay by my side. I need to eat. Could you find me something?" He asked, giving her a tired smile.

"Oh, sure. I'll be right back." Ten minutes later she returned with a selection of food for Feral and the SWAT Kats who had returned and were waiting by Feral who sat resting on the hood of an Enforcer patrol car. She handed the food over.

"What are your chances do you think?" she asked, concerned for him as well as the planet from these odd strangers.

Demolishing several sandwiches, Feral eyed Briggs a moment before answering.

"Like I said before, I will have the advantage of surprise, that's if we manage to get close and enter the ship without being stopped. No matter what happens, I don't expect them to bother you since I was the reason they came here. And on that subject, if I do survive to come back, am I welcome?" He asked, worried he'd be cast out now that they knew he was an alien.

Callie blinked in surprise. She didn't think anyone had thought about the fact Feral was an alien. They were surprised by his true appearance, of course, but they still thought of him as their Chief Enforcer.

"Surprisingly, Commander, though you are obviously not from around here..." she said making a small joke to ease the tension, "...we still think of you as our Chief Enforcer and unless you intend to leave, you'll remain so."

Feral's shoulders relaxed and he nodded gratefully at her. He was relieved, this was his home now and was very glad he wouldn't be ostracized and ordered to leave. "Thank you, Ms. Briggs. If I survive the coming fight, I'll return to my duty with gratitude."

Callie smiled encouragingly at him and wished him luck. She gave each of the SWAT Kats a quick hug and a warning for them to return safely to her. Giving her a quick devil may care grin, the two headed for their jet followed by Feral.

Razor lowered the cargo doors and gestured Feral to enter. The door closed behind them and Razor went up to the cockpit while Feral settled into a pull down seat. He felt the jet take off and soon they were speeding toward the stratosphere.


	3. Chapter 3

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 3: Taking the Offense

As they began to enter the stratosphere and he heard the speed-o-heat shield sliding over the canopy, Feral asked Razor an important question over the comm.

"They have a sensor array that detects anything around them with pinpoint accuracy. How do you plan on getting close enough for us to board without being picked up then blasted by their much stronger defensive armament?"

Razor grimaced as he stared at his monitors and his own sensor array. "I have a sort of cloaking device that hides our signature but I have no idea if it will proof against your species' tech. I got it from our last alien visitors, the Aquians. We'll just have to hope it works or this will be a very short trip."

Feral shrugged fatalistically. Either the cloak would work or not, he wasn't afraid to die but was a little concerned about the SWAT Kats being taken out as well. As much as he didn't like them, they were a very valuable part of Megakat City's defense system. But there's nothing to be done about it, they were all committed now. He sighed watching the huge Frendorian ship get closer and closer. So far they hadn't been noticed.

"Go underneath and stay away from the area that looks like spines, that's the sensor array. There is a hangar bay to the left and rear of the ship," Feral informed them.

"Copy that!" T-Bone acknowledged, steering the Turbokat in the indicated direction. Taking a very low approach, the burly pilot tried to make them as unnoticeable as possible.

The ship was immense, bigger than five of their largest tankers at home. T-Bone slowed their flight and switched to VTOL as they were within the ships gravity well and were no longer in danger of drifting off. Using the maneuvering air jets, he carefully navigated the jet along the underside of the spacecraft.

"There, that's the hangar bay!" Feral called out, indicating a huge door framed by multiple flickering lights.

T-Bone brought the jet to a halt. So far so good, the massive warship still had not detected them.

Feral relayed a series of numbers to Razor to try. It was what he remembered of his times aboard ship in the past. If they were lucky, it hadn't been changed. Razor tapped in the sequence than sent the signal toward the door. Tension sang through them as they waited for the door to open.

It took only a few minutes before the doors opened slowly, to their collective relief. When there was just enough room, T-Bone carefully sent the jet inside.

"Razor! Signal the door closing as soon as T-Bone clears them," Feral shouted.

The tail was just passing through when Razor did as ordered, having already seen how fast the doors moved. He knew they'd be through in time and it meant the doors wouldn't be hanging open too long. They would be extremely vulnerable if the bay crew were at all alert to the space doors being opened in the first place and were waiting for them with weapons drawn.

But, to their surprise and relief, there was no armed response as T-Bone cruised forward into the landing bay nor was there a response of any kind as he found the perfect hiding place for the jet beside a huge land craft of some kind. Setting down, he immediately cut power then waited tensely. But after sitting silently for more than fifteen minutes, there still was no reaction from the crew.

Feral snorted in disgust. "Things have gotten very lax with my people. I'm betting this door has a bad habit of opening on its own so no one pays it any mind until someone spots it and closes it. Very sloppy."

"They must be supremely confident that no one can best them to be that arrogant and careless," Razor observed.

"Oh, yea, the Queen certainly can be. She doesn't really inspire much in the way of pride in ones work," Feral said derisively. "Anyway, this is a plus for us as we seem to be totally unnoticed by the security system. Shall we get out of here now?"

"Copy that. You're in charge," Razor said easily.

T-Bone activated the canopy release and it slid open. Feral came up the ladder and exited right behind them through the cockpit. They landed on the floor quietly. Razor secured the jet then he and his partner followed, silently, behind Feral as the Frendorian made his way through the silent hangar.

As they crossed the huge space dock, T-Bone eyed all the modern space craft sitting about. Wow! Wish we could have one of those. Then he frowned and closed the gap between him and Feral to ask, "Hey, how come none of this flew out the space door when we came in and we aren't being depressurized outside our jet right now?"

Feral had all his senses on alert, pausing only a moment in mild amusement to answer T-Bone's innocent question. "There is a pressurized barrier in the doorway. It allows things to go in and out without loss of atmosphere on this side."

"Wow! That's amazing!" The tabby murmured, properly awed.

Their race across the hangar ended at a door that automatically swished opened and led into a small chamber. The door closed and suddenly they were bombarded with odd lights and the feeling of something passing over their bodies.

"What the hell?" T-Bone exclaimed, though he tried not to shout.

"Decontamination chamber," Feral murmured, undisturbed, as he waited patiently.

"Oh, that makes sense," Razor muttered, calming himself after nearly jumping out of his fur in surprise.

Moments later, a door whooshed open in front of them. Peering out, Feral saw no one about. Relieved, he stepped through, the SWAT Kats close on his heels. He turned left down a long corridor colored a deep red then paused suddenly, frowning.

"Something wrong?" Razor asked tensely.

"Arrogant or not, it's not usual for security to be this lax. We should have been picked up on the internal sensors but there has been no alarm since we boarded and the ship shows signs of neglect which indicates they haven't been traveling in space much at all lately. To leave home and come all the way out here for me, tells me things have gotten far worse at home."

"Your kind's dying?" Razor asked, concerned and shocked.

"Probably. When I was banished here our species was already deteriorating at an alarming rate but because the Queen ruled our bodies and minds with an iron fist, we we're oblivious to how fast we we're disappearing. No one noted fewer kittens were being born, that real food was scarce reducing us to lab processed food to stay alive and that our planet was so stripped of resources that we had to live in biospheres," Feral grumbled, bitterly.

"Sounds like you were lucky to have been dumped here then," T-Bone observed, guarding their rear.

"Yes, you're right about that though I hadn't thought so at first. Anyway, her arrogance knows no limits so right now she probably thinks we couldn't possibly get up here much less be a real threat."

"Yea, well, looks like we're going to be teaching her that underestimating us is a real mistake," Razor said, bitingly. "Anyway, it's a good thing she thinks that way or we wouldn't have gotten this far. So you think this internal rot has affected her crew enough to make them ineffective?"

"It's a possibility I can't discount if those warriors I fought on the planet were any indication. And the Queen's temper has not improved with time. She's still an arrogant bitch and stupid," Feral retorted.

"That sounds like a good thing. Might mean we'll be able to kick their tails and send them packing that much easier," T-Bone grunted, his tone hopeful.

Feral grimaced. "They may be weaker against me as I'm different but they are still stronger than you two. Your only advantage is your smaller size, speed, and unusual weapons, so stay on your toes."

"We'll be okay, don't you worry!" T-Bone growled. "So what's your plan?"

"Getting to the bridge and taking the Queen prisoner. The crew will give up once we do that as they won't risk her being harmed. We're almost there but first I need something." Feral was beginning to move into a busier section of the ship.

They'd had to duck into small hiding spaces as they encountered more crew. As they followed the huge Frendorian, they studied with interest the second spaceship they'd ever been on. Razor had to admit, this ship was beat up by the look of the chipped paint and spot welding he saw here and there. The ship was colder and not as large as the Aquians. The walls were a unitarian metal colored red but unrelieved by anything else that might soften its severity. There were many long corridors, all in the same blood red color.

They'd managed to make it to the center of the ship without being caught. Suddenly, Feral spotted something through an open hatchway and, without warning and grinning coldly, he stepped out of sight a moment. When the SWAT Kats slipped into the room after him, they saw he'd taken out a crew member that was almost as big as he was, though rather skinny.

The SWAT Kats eyed him in surprise but quickly realized what he was up to when he stripped the male's uniform off and quickly pulled it on himself. It was a bit tight but it would do. Feral roughly stuffed the male in a utility closet nearby then signaled them to continue on.

After hurrying down another corridor, ducking into a room when a group of crew members appeared then continuing quickly to a section of wall where Feral swept his palm over one side of it and an elevator appeared.

They stepped aboard and the door silently shut behind them. The pair were startled when Feral rumbled something in a harsh language. When he finished the elevator immediately took off quick enough to take their breath away and surprising them by going sideways then, after just seconds, pausing to switch to an upward movement.

"Ugh! Can someone go back and get my stomach?" Razor groaned softly.

Feral grunted in amusement but kept his eyes on the wall in front of him, his body tense and ready. The SWAT Kats copied him, moving to stand behind him rather than be seen as the elevator halted and the doors zipped open to reveal a busy area filled with Frendorians working at controls that lined the walls and the center of the room.

There was no reaction from the busy crew when the doors opened and revealed just another Frendorian. Their work totally held their focus, the air filled with a sort of controlled frenzy. Something was up.

Feral made a 'wait' gesture to his two shadows as he stepped completely into the room. They did as he asked and hid behind his huge bulk, standing in the elevator door to keep it open. Feral stood silently and listened closely to the chatter going on around him.

After several, long, tense minutes, he was able to determine the reason the room was so busy. The Queen had a plan to capture him and everyone was busy setting up the trap. He allowed a brief grim smile to appear briefly on his face before turning his head to speak to the SWAT Kats.

"They are preparing a trap for me...its some kind of plasma field they intended to drop over me to knock me out and bring me back to the ship."

"Would it have worked?" Razor whispered, questioningly.

"Maybe, but we're going to put an end to the idea. T-Bone go left, Razor destroy all the control banks on the right, it will cripple the ship and cause temporary chaos, I'll take the center."

"Copy that!" Both warriors responded.

"Go!" Feral spat as he lunged forward to take out a knot of crew directly in front of him.

T-Bone kept low and used all his armaments against the crew and equipment on his side of the room. Their sudden attack caused a mini panic and roars of anger. The burly tom managed to take out several males with well placed tarpedoes, electrified nets, and flashbulb grenades as well as destroying a small section of consoles.

Razor fired a brace of match head missiles into the entire control bank a large number of crew were manning creating the chaos Feral wanted as well as filling the air with smoke and exploding pieces of electronics.

On the bridge two floors above them the Queen and Ztoram were discussing their plans in her mini throne room off the bridge when the alarm sounded. Before they could react, one of the bridge crew officers rushed in and tossed himself to his knees before her. She glared down at the shivering form and demanded, "Why are the alarms sounding!"

"My Queen! We've been invaded. The operations level is under attack. We're receiving multiple systems failure signals of downed computer banks," he spat out quickly, keeping his head down.

"What!" Ignoring the male, she strode quickly past him to her door and stepped onto the chaos of the bridge. Ztoram and the male hastened to follow her.

Her third in command was shouting orders while trying to determine how much damage had been done to the internal controls of the ship.

"What is going on?" She barked loud enough to be heard over the excitement and panic around her.

"My Queen!" Her third turned to look at her, his face tense with fear. "I've sent security to the operations level. The few reports we've been able to get from there is someone has attacked the crew. More than half the control center has been destroyed by unknown weaponry."

Her face flamed with fury and her wings spread wide, displaying just how angry she was. "I want you to go down there and find out exactly what is going on...now!" She ordered.

"Yes, my Queen." Her third said before quickly leaving the bridge.

She turned to Ztoram. "What could this mean? None of those sheep below us have space travel so who could be attacking me? If we have a traitor in our midst, I want them found immediately and their head brought to me." She hissed angrily at him.

Shivering inside, Ztoram displayed only a stoic face as he answered her fury. "It shall be done my Queen." He quickly turned and left, glad to be out of her presence. A surprise enemy was a far better choice to face than his furious Queen.


	4. Chapter 4

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 4: Taking the Queen Prisoner

As Ztoram raced to the operation's level, Feral was making quick, bloody work of the hapless crew. He was already covered in their life's fluids as he cleared his half of the room.

T-Bone had left his enemies alive if a little worse for wear. He had been careful not to get within reach of their claws as he took them out as swiftly as he could fire his weapons. He didn't come away completely unscathed, though, as the rips in his costume attested.

Around them, choking smoke from all the burning, sparking control consoles made the air hard to breath. Coughing, Feral shouted at them, "Follow me! We've got to get to the bridge."

Obeying instantly, T-Bone and Razor quickly followed Feral to the elevator but just before they could reach it, the doors snapped open and a fresh squad of Frendorians charged in. The three were thrown into fighting for their lives against heavy odds.

Feral used his much more powerful form and abilities to cut a bloody swath through them. T-Bone was forced to fight paw to claw as it was far too crowded for him to fire his glovatrix. Razor, using his smaller size to his advantage, was able to disable many of the security force at their ankles with the quick and effective use of his knife.

The room filled with bodies and became downright suffocating. When next the elevator opened, the third in command followed closely by the second, Ztoram, beheld a scene of carnage. It was nearly impossible to see much due to the heavy smoke that still hadn't been cleared by the ship's air purifying system.

Then suddenly, out of the smoke, a huge, bloody Frendorian male came charging toward them. Behind him, two equally bloody colorful figures were at his side with some kind of strange armament on their wrists pointed toward the open elevator door.

Not pausing, Feral plowed into the pair of stunned officers and sent them hurtling toward the far wall of the lift, striking the wall hard enough to drive the air from their lungs. As soon as they were in, Feral barked a command to the elevator. In seconds, they were rushing upward.

"NO!" Ztoram managed to shout as he struggled against the powerful male he now realized was Ulysses.

The other officer had also managed to get on his feet from where he'd fallen and charged Razor but T-Bone stepped between them and took the brunt of the creature's attack.

As Feral had warned, despite not being much of a fighter, the third fought with his normal strength which nearly defeated T-Bone but Razor waded in and used his knife on the officer's ankles, effectively hamstringing the creature and sending him crashing again to the floor screaming in pain.

Groaning from the multiple blows he'd sustain in the fighting, T-Bone held a paw over broken ribs as he and Razor watched Feral battle Ztoram.

In the small space of the elevator, neither opponent was able to get the upper paw. Though Feral was certainly heavier, more powerful, and skilled at fighting, Ztoram had been around a long time and was a veteran of many conflicts so wasn't exactly a push over.

Razor and T-Bone were forced to duck and weave to avoid the combatant's wings and claws as they ripped and shredded each other.

Suddenly the elevator stopped and the doors zipped open allowing the two battling males to spill out onto the bridge.

The Queen gaped in shock as her second in command fought Ulysses. She was stunned the male had managed to reach her ship much less nearly incapacitate it. The bridge crew were too stunned to take action and could only watch in fascination as the two males fought for supremacy.

Meanwhile, T-Bone and Razor slipped into the room unnoticed and kept their eyes on all the others in case someone finally woke up enough to try and end the fight.

Queen Shlora watched in fascination and rising excitement at the two males fighting. Ulysses was everything she had desired in a mate and now he was here on her ship. She only had to restrain him in some way. Her mind raced with options.

The battle was winding down as the pair became exhausted. Feral landed a firm, head rattling blow to Ztoram's jaw then followed up with a groin strike that doubled over his opponent finally incapacitating him.

Ztoram hit the floor and curled in a ball of pain for the second time that day while Feral stood over him heaving for air and watching for any further resistance from the male.

Razor spotted the Queen preparing to do something and acted swiftly. He had retained some armaments from the earlier battle and quickly fired a tarpedo straight into her face.

Shlora never had a chance to shriek in outrage before the tarry substance covered her mouth and blinded her. Dragging her claws across the stuff only caused them to stick to her face.

Several crew members quickly came to her aid. This managed to distract the rest from the three fighters who were now standing together to form a united front.

"Come on, now's our chance to take her." Feral growled in a low voice and began moving hurriedly across the deck toward the Queen.

T-Bone and Razor flanked him as they reached the cluster of crew surrounding the Queen and began to take them out one at a time until only the helpless Queen, the tar nearly gone from her face, was left standing alone.

Peering through the goo, she stared at Ulysses in shock and fury. She immediately reached out with her claws intending to rip his eyes out but his paws were already there grabbing her by the wrists.

Stepping forward, he swiftly released one wrist while pulling the other to twirl her around then grabbing the loose wrist and pulling both tightly behind her back, trapping her wings in the process.

Thus pinned, the Queen could only hiss in fury and attempt to kick her captor with no success.

"How dare you! No one treats their Queen this way!" She shrieked.

"Queen? What Queen? You haven't been a Queen to your people for more than a century." Feral hissed scathingly in her ear.

Before either could say anything else, more security poured in through the just arriving elevator but froze at the sight of the Queen being held captive.

There wasn't a sound for several minutes. A couple of bridge officers that had survived the initial attack on the bridge, helped Ztoram to his feet. He swayed and his face showed how much pain he was in but he ignored it and glared at Feral.

"Release the Queen! None may handle her like that!" He demanded.

Feral gave him a disgusted look. "Have you no honor? How can you follow her so blindly and watch as our people suffer and die one by one? Answer me Ztoram! What has she ever done that could be worth the loss of our entire species?" His voice dripped with scorn and derision.

Ztoram stared at him, anguish and shock vying within his chest. "It's...not our place to question our Queen."

"No, you'd rather be led like so many sheep despite the pain and suffering she visits upon you. You've been so indoctrinated that you can't even think for yourself any longer and I pity you."

"You used to think the same way, Ulysses. You worshiped our Queen and did her bidding without question," Ztoram retorted.

"Yes, and where did that get me! Death for my family and any who dared to be my friend! And, as if that weren't bad enough...she banished me... and for what? I did nothing but obey my Queen in all that she asked but because I wasn't what she wanted, she destroyed my life without a thought," Feral's ground out passionately. "No, she is callous, hard and cold. She cares not one whit for her people...only her own selfish needs matter." He hissed in annoyance as she managed to get in a good kick to his ankle. "However, there was one good thing she'd done for me and that was to banish me here where, despite the initial problems of adapting, I ended up thriving. My eyes were opened to other possibilities and a better way of life. No way am I giving that up to please a selfish Queen."

Ztoram was angry but also sympathetic to Ulysses' plight. If he could he'd love to stay on this world too. From space it look much like their world had centuries ago...lush and green...full of life, but he had sworn his life to his Queen and he wouldn't turn his back on her now. Shlora may be a shrew but her genes were strong and combined with Ulysses', could very well be their world's salvation.

But convincing this tom to help them wasn't going to be easy. However, it was against his nature to cave in nor be nice. "I won't argue with you on whether she is a good Queen or bad. We are her subjects and you have been ordered to return to save us."

"You can't order me, Ztoram. I'm not her subject any longer. She gave that right up when she banished me. As for saving our people, the best way to my mind is to depose this worthless Queen and allow you to build your lives anew," Feral growled, giving the Queen a sudden tight squeeze that made her hiss with pain.

"But that won't save us!" Ztoram shouted, suddenly afraid. "We aren't dying because she might be a poor Queen but because of our genes. The gene pool is soo weak our scientists estimate we have only a few decades left before we no longer exist." If Ulysses did kill the Queen in his anger then they truly would be doomed.

"To save us we must have fresh, healthy genes. A tracker placed in your body before you were banished, sent information back to our scientists that showed your body's weak genes had been replaced by apparently dormant healthier ones that quickly multiplied and restored you to the former glory our race used to be. Believe me, you were already dying when you were banished here. At best you should have had no more than ten years left but here you stand whole and healthy. As for the Queen, her genes were not tainted by whatever is causing our race to die so combining your newly restored ones with hers should pull our race from the brink of extinction. How can you refuse to help us when you really are our only hope?"

Feral froze in shock, staring at Ztoram for many long minutes trying to determine if he was being sincere. Sighing mentally, he concluded the second in command was being honest as Ztoram would no way reveal such a weakness before strangers which meant the fate of their entire species was indeed in Feral's paws.

What a position to be put in. I have no intention of returning home but what do I do to help them? Wait...there is a way. He asked aloud, "So... it isn't so much the Queen needs a strong mate...it's a new source of untainted genes that's required, correct?"

Ztoram frowned. What did he mean by that? "Yes, that's what I said, we need you and her to save us."

"No, you do not need me personally only my sperm," Feral corrected him.

Ztoram blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? How can we get your sperm without you?"

It was Razor who stepped in and answered. He knew where Feral was going with this and it was apparent that despite how advanced the Frendorians seemed compared to Aristal, they didn't practice nor were aware of any other form of fertilization beyond physical congress.

"On our world, we have learned to take sperm from a male and use it to impregnate a female without sex."

A shocked Ztoram blurted, "Why would you want to?"

"We are under constant attack by super criminals, causing the deaths of many of our males. To preserve who they were for their mates, harvesting sperm became an important way to insure our population didn't suffer. The sperm is stored in cold storage and if the contributor is killed, his mate or another willing female can use his sperm to procreate," Razor explained.

The Queen had stopped struggling and was listening in stunned disbelief. "Impossible!" she burst out.

Razor snorted at her in annoyance. "I assure you it is. Just because we're not as advanced as you in space flight does not mean we're behind in other fields as well. Necessity is the cause of advances in the first place and ours was in the medical sciences. We are not someone to be dismissed so lightly. So if you want your race to survive then you'd better listen because it's obvious to even the stupidest person, Feral is never going back with you."

She hissed at Razor angrily for the disrespectful comment and tried to lunge at him but was forcibly restrained by Feral.

"Let me go you brute!" She growled.

"Not until you calm down and listen. I have no compunction against breaking your neck and being done with the problem all together. After all, we only need your eggs and those can be collected as well," Feral said coldly, not that he would ever do such a thing but she didn't know that.

She froze in shocked horror at that threat. Ztoram mirrored her reaction. Staring at the powerhouse, he couldn't be certain if the tom was serious about his threat or not but he knew he couldn't take the chance.

"No, Ulysses, please, I beg of you. Whatever you think of her, our people will listen to her and we need that if this program of repopulation will work."

"Just how is she supposed to repopulate the world by herself?" Feral snorted. This was an important question. His sperm could go to many fems to impregnate but if she was the only one with good genes, his contribution would be for nothing.

"Not all the royal house is tainted. There are ten of her daughters with viable genes. It will be slow, I admit, to gradually increase the pool of breeders with just a few healthy ones but we don't have any other choices," Ztoram argued.

Razor frowned and shook his head. "I don't see how that will work. However, it is possible our scientists could find out why your genes are failing and find a way to reverse it. If it happened to Feral, it might be possible to cause it to happen to the rest of your species. Because they aren't directly involved, they can give the problem a new set of eyes and perhaps find what you might have missed."

Ztoram eyed the small stranger with new eyes. Perhaps their dire situation had a solution after all if they were willing to listen to this race's advice.

The Queen had stilled at Ulysses' flat certainty that he would kill her without hesitation. She'd never been dominated so completely by any male in her life. She swallowed sudden tears of humiliation and loss. He would never be hers and it was her own fault.

She had no doubt he would destroy them rather than be returned home. And even if they did somehow manage to take him prisoner, he would become a deadly force to be reckoned with and a rebel that would turn her people against her the first opportunity he was given. He would have to be guarded for the rest of his life and she would never be able to trust him.

As these thoughts ran through her mind and she listened to the conversation between Ztoram and the alien, she allowed her body to relax then finally go lax in surrender.

Feral eyed her suspiciously as he felt her go completely limp in his arms. What was she up to?

Eyeing the odd creature before her, she asked, "Can you show us how this can be done?"

Razor blinked behind his mask in surprise. She wanted to do this? Well I'll be, she's not completely stupid or selfish after all.

He shook his head regretfully. "Sorry, I'm not a medical scientist but if you ask nicely and don't give us anymore trouble, I'm sure we can get the help you require. Our specialists will even train your medics on the procedures necessary save your race."

Shlora turned her gaze to Ztoram. "What do you think?"

"If it will save us then I'm all for it my Queen." Ztoram felt a weight fall from his shoulders. Perhaps they were saved after all. He truly hoped so.

"Please release me, Ulysses. We would request assistance of your medical specialists then depart here," she promised, her voice quiet, her manner subdued.

Still wary, Feral did as she asked then stepped around her, keeping his front toward the crew as he rejoined the SWAT Kats.

"And what about me?" He asked.

Shlora sighed. "If you would please provide the needed sample to save your race then we will leave you in peace. It's obvious you are much happier here and would only be a dangerous burden to me if you were taken home."

Feral felt himself relax a little. At last a concession by the selfish Queen. Perhaps she was finally realizing she couldn't always get her own way and that, if her subjects died, she would also. Nothing like the prospect of a ghost world to shake one's feelings of superiority right out of you.


	5. Chapter 5

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 5: Seeking Help

Relieved the fighting was over, Feral and the SWAT Kats were quietly escorted to the sickbay where their injuries were treated. The Frendorians might not have been up artificial fertilization, but they were more advanced in other forms of medical treatments.

T-Bone was amazed when the wand the doctor used on him healed his fractured ribs like magic and sealed all his other wounds with equal ease.

As his own wounds were repaired, Razor asked for one of the wands for their own use. The doctor willingly gave him three. Word had reached them of the assistance this race would give to save their kind and they were more than willing to return the favor however they could.

Once their wounds were healed, the three were escorted to their jet where they boarded and quickly lifted off, soaring out the space doors and roaring off for home.

"Crud! Am I glad that's over." The tabby pilot sighed as the jet passed through the stratosphere.

"Yea, me too, but I'm glad it happened in the first place. It's always a great thing when I can get my paws on new tech that will augment ours," Razor said, eagerly... itching to take apart the devices and some of the weapons he'd been given to figure out how they worked and if he could replicate them.

T-Bone snorted good-naturedly. His friend was the happiest when he was working on new tech.

Feral listened to their banter over the intercom with only part of his attention. He was very pleased he was able to end this near kidnapping without any casualties on his end and the SWAT Kats had been excellent back up. He felt particular pleased by Razor's solution. And best of all, he was going to be left alone on the world that had given him a much happier home.

All that was left was to get Shlora's people trained, give over his sperm and the equipment needed to do fertilization and then escort them right out of their airspace.

His ruminations were interrupted by the sound of the jet switching from forward to VTOL then landing firmly on the ground.

"Here you go Commander, you're home," T-Bone's voice came over the intercom as he opened the cargo hold to allow Feral to depart.

The cargo hatch door slowly lowered and he saw they had thoughtfully taken him to Enforcer Headquarters and were on his flight line.

"Thanks!" He called back, then stepped down the ramp, flapping his wings a bit to stretch them. He'd not returned to his Kat disguise as yet and wasn't certain when he should.

"Hey, Commander?" Razor voice floated to him from above.

Looking upward, he saw the cockpit was open and the pair were looking down at him. He flapped his wings and launched upward until he could land on the wing beside them.

"What?"

Razor blinked for a moment. He hadn't seen Feral fly before and had been surprised for a second. "Uh, are you going to remain that way?"

"I hadn't really decided. I do need to be this way while the Queen is still here, of course, but after that...I don't know." He shrugged his massive shoulders.

"Whatever you decide about how you want to present yourself on a daily basis, I know in this form you can kick some serious omega butt. We understand why you never did before since you were hiding your true self, but now...you can finally end the menaces to this city," T-Bone said feelingly.

Feral blinked at the tabby, surprised. "Wouldn't that take away your vigilante mission?"

T-Bone snorted, giving him a grimmer look than the Commander expected. "Hey, there will still be a need for us but it's getting far too exhausting constantly fighting the same criminals over and over again and never winning. It's demoralizing. Besides, they keep getting better and smarter, raising the risk and doubling our chances of dying."

Feral eyed T-Bone, amazed. The pain in the tails had grown in maturity and were now hardened and skilled warriors, knowing their limits. The way they fought aboard the Frendorian ship had shown that clearly. And what the tabby had said was very true, the omegas were becoming more dangerous all the time...death was definitely becoming a possibility.

He hated the fact that his hiding what he was had allowed their enemies time to improve their skills so they created more of a threat but that was water under the bridge. All that mattered was what he could do now that he was revealed. This was the only good thing to come out of the Queen's sudden visit. As soon as she was gone, it was open season on the omegas.

"Surprisingly SWAT Kat, I agree with you. When next the omegas show their face, I'll insure they get the thrashing they so richly deserve and possibly a permanent farewell to our city, eh?" He grinned wolfishly in anticipation.

T-Bone grinned back. "Hell, Yes! I can't wait to see you do it!" A fierce look of joy on his face as he pumped his fist in the air.

Razor quietly interrupted the moment of perfect accord between his partner and Feral with a question. "Commander, on this other matter concerning the Queen...do you want us to be there to guard against any treachery by her or her guards?"

Feral thought a moment then nodded his head. "Yes. You're more familiar with them and know what to watch for than my enforcers. I've already ordered her to transport here so we can form a sort of honor guard around her and take them to my Biotech Lab where the medico's can do their thing. This would keep our visitors more contained and easier to guard until they leave."

"Good idea. See you tomorrow afternoon then, Commander." Razor nodded, pleased. T-Bone nodded as well, waving Feral off so they could leave.

Feral nodded back, taking off into the air and flying toward the hangar entrance as the jet lifted off the flight line behind him then quickly went to forward motion before disappearing with a loud roar of acceleration.

As he landed, he spotted his second in command and assistant nervously approaching him from the direction of the hangar. He eyed them watchfully as they halted some ten feet away from him, unwilling to come any closer.

Sighing mentally, Feral realized, if he intended to get any work done today, he'd have to do it in his Kat form or everyone would be too afraid to approach him. With barely a thought, his form blurred a moment before his usual form appeared. The two were now openly gaping at him. They'd seen him change the first time but this just brought it home more that the image they were used to wasn't the Commander's normal one and just how fast and easy his change from one to the other truly was.

"Get used to it," Feral grunted then walked past them. "Tomorrow afternoon, the Queen is coming here to have some special needs met then she and her ship will leave us alone. I have to be in my true form the whole time she's here, but afterwards, I intend to keep it more undercover for reasons of my own so don't expect to see my true form often. Now, follow me as I have a lot to get done and new orders for you."

Still uncertain of this person who wasn't what he seemed any longer, Steele and Fallon followed the Commander. More than two hours later, he'd briefed all his squad leaders and answered their many question, spoke with Dr. Konway on what was needed to set aside a lab for the fertility specialists and geneticists, and set up the special security needed to guard this area.

He did get some flack about the SWAT Kats being there as primary protectors but he squashed it immediately reminding his squad leaders on how the pair of vigilantes had been the ones battling by his side and were more familiar with his species. However, he made it plain that they were just as important during this time. Their job was to guard the scientist volunteers who would be helping the Queen with her problem, insuring none of the unwanted guests from space wandered in places they shouldn't, aid the scientists in moving and setting up their equipment and taking it down again. That appeased his Enforcers somewhat as they left to follow his orders.

With that done, Feral decided he would go to the Mayor's office in person to insure he got what he needed without too many arguments.

Thinking he might get a more positive and immediate response in his true form, he altered then flew to city hall. It felt wonderful to take wing once more after so long a time. He kept his wings exercised by the occasional trip to the mountains but it wasn't near often enough.

Now that he was outed, he would be flying openly over the city from now on. The inhabitants would just have to get used to it but they were a flexible race since they handled all the weirdness this city put out with only a marginal amount of fear and confusion then settled down rather quickly to ho-hum again. That's kinda what he liked about them. But he wouldn't inflict his weirdness on them just yet, not until all the major omegas were dealt with.

After a ten minute flight, he landed on top of the clock tower and used the same entrance the SWAT Kats usually did. He walked downstairs to the Mayor's offices. Stepping into Manx's outer office he frightened the middle aged secretary into leaping to her feet, shrieking in terror, then fleeing through Ms. Briggs' office and out the other door further away, still screaming hysterically, causing heads to pop out of other offices and stare at her in confused consternation as they couldn't see what had scared her.

The secretary's mad dash through her office prompted Ms. Briggs to leave her own desk and walk through to the Mayor's office, finding Feral standing there just settling his huge wings to his back neatly.

"Hello, Commander. Was it really necessary to give Carrie such a fright?" She asked, mild amusement in her voice and green eyes.

"She'll survive, Ms. Briggs. Everyone will just have to get used to seeing me like this," Feral said, a small smirk gracing his lips before his expression became more somber. "I'm here on urgent business which involves the Mayor or you handling it."

"Ah, I see. Well, you're in luck, the Mayor is playing golf so we can cut the 'middle-Kat' out for now and get right to business," Callie said warmly and welcomed him into her office.

"Perfect." The smile returned to his face as he followed her.

Callie eyed Feral's impressive form, especially the huge wings as he ducked to allow them to pass through her doorway. He had been a powerful Kat before but this form was far more awesome sending unexpected tendrils of heat through her.

That realization staggered her mentally. Her body's reaction to him was a stunning surprise as she'd never thought of him like that...ever. But now who he truly was made her heart gallop and made other things heat and swell in desire. How could she be so attracted to someone who wasn't even a Kat? Oh Goddess, just his scent alone had her head spinning.

She had halted in the doorway but recovered quickly to gesture Feral to precede her while she forcibly pushed the disturbing feelings to the back of her mind and followed him into her office, closing the door behind her.

"So, I'm assuming your business concerns the Queen. I'd like to know what happened up there and what I can do for you now," she said, taking her seat behind her desk to put some distance between her and his tempting form.

Feral's sensitive nose had caught the scent of sexual interest from Ms. Briggs when he passed her in the doorway and it took an effort of will not to show surprise. She had never given him any sign she felt anything like that for him nor had he felt any toward her.

However, her heated scent was causing him to react so it must have just been because she hadn't shown an interest until now. Hmmm, perhaps his true appearance was responsible. This had possibilities. He shoved that interesting tidbit away for later perusal and proceeded to tell her about the fight, subsequent cease fire and Razor's solution.

When he finished his explanation, she leaned back in her chair and studied him, a frown on her face. "I find it amazing they know nothing of artificial fertilization but I'm glad Razor thought to bring up our abilities in that area. So, since they are faced with extinction because of that lack of knowledge and we aren't that's why she's willing to make nice. Interesting that you're their only salvation."

Feral blushed a little at that observation. It sounded rather conceited when she said it that way. "Uh, yea, I am, unfortunately. Not really certain it will stop their extinction but it is their only option, besides conquering some other world and taking it over. Good thing they've not thought of that."

Callie frowned. "Why haven't they? I mean, they are desperate and most species that desperate usually find leaving their dying world for another to be the best solution."

Feral had to admit she had a point. He thought a moment before answering. "My world was already failing by the time I was banished. I can only surmise, they are simply too weak to attempt such a thing. Though my kind are stronger than you in strength, you could easily overwhelm them with sheer numbers. I happen to know from speaking to Ztoram, that this is their only space ship left and it is very lightly manned for one that size. So our numbers are severely reduced."

"That makes a lot of sense. Okay, so their hopeful solution is taking your sperm to give to the royal females in hopes to save themselves and the agreement you made is why you need me."

He nodded, pleased she was so quick on the uptake. "Yes. I made it very clear I would never leave here and the Queen finally realized it would cost her more than it was worth to force me. The agreement we came to was for me to give them enough of my sperm for their needs and show her people how to store it properly and how to impregnate the Queen and others of the royal line upon return to their home."

"I see. So what's your plan for getting this done?"

"I need the city's top geneticists and fertility specialists to come to my Biotech Labs and show the Queen's medical officers how to help our species procreate and I need the office of the Mayor to ensure my request gets quick attention and cooperation with no arguments."

Callie was nodding her head by the time he finished. "I understand perfectly Commander. I'll get right on it. What time do you want them to appear and will you provide enforcer assistance to transport personnel and equipment?" She asked as she jotted down notes.

"Yes. I need the scientists to be in place and ready to start by one in the afternoon so my troops will be on paw to help them with whatever they need to bring over and set up as well as return them when done. Just have them call me there location and time they want to be transported."

"Right!" Callie said briskly. "I'll brief the Mayor and have him do the calling once I've rounded up the experts you need. Will this end our problem with them? They won't be dropping in on us again in the future?"

"We can only hope so, Ms. Briggs. I'm sorry I can't be more positive about that. Even with her assurances they won't come back, I'm afraid they might run into problems and need our scientists assistance so they could conceivably return for that. However, I can guarantee, if they do return, their next visit will be friendlier if they want any help from us."

She sighed but nodded. "I guess we'll have to be satisfied with that assumption. Anything else you need?"

"No, that's should take care of it. Glad you're handling it. I know things will run smoothly and get done quickly with your assistance," he said warmly.

She blushed a little at the unexpected compliment and smiled shyly back. "You're welcome. See you tomorrow."

Feral eyed her a moment longer before nodding and rising to his feet, then leaving her office. Callie stood up and moved to her window. Moments later, she spotted his majestic form soar on the wind currents toward his headquarters. He cut quite an amazing figure in the sky. After this matter was behind them, things would be very different between them of that she was certain.

She turned back to her desk and began her research for who would be the best specialists they would need.


	6. Chapter 6

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 6: Solving the Frendorian Problem

Feral landed at Enforcer Headquarters some minutes after leaving the deputy mayor. Altering his form to Kat once more, he strode to his office. The time he'd spent handling the problem of this bothersome race interfering with him, had seriously backlogged his paperwork that never took a break.

Sighing, he sat down at his desk and tackled the pile of reports waiting for him. It was getting late, the sun nearly set, by the time he threw the last report into his out basket. Yawning, he scrubbed his face with his paw then got to his feet. Grabbing his coat, he left his office, locking it behind him then heading for the elevator.

He paused at the operations center to see if his orders had been completed for tomorrow and was well pleased when he received the report that everything was as ready as it could be to receive the scientists and their alien visitors.

Sighing in relief, he headed home to get some food and sleep. Going down to the lobby by the elevator, he crossed the lobby feeling the many curious looks thrown his way from the swing shift as he pushed opened the doors and went down the broad steps to his cruiser waiting at the curb.

Tomorrow was going to be a hectic day.

**Elsewhere in the city ... earlier that afternoon...**

T-Bone smoothly landed their jet with the ease of long practice. Shutting down the engines once they were sitting on the turntable, he yawned as it rose to the main hangar.

"Crud, I'm bushed."

"Yea, me too, buddy but I'm really glad we don't have injuries to suffer through as well," Razor sighed, stretching to ease stiffness. Seconds later the canopy shot back and he jumped to the floor.

"You said it! Despite all the hell those aliens put us through, you have to admit they have great medical care," T-Bone commented as he also leaped to the floor and made for his locker.

"For sure and I'm glad they were willing to hand over a few of those healing wands to us. What a blessing they'll be the next time Viper or Dark Kat bashes one of us," Razor agreed, carrying the bag of tech goodies he'd gotten to his work bench before going to change.

"Oh yea, none of that long term recover time for us now." Chance was nearly finished stripping by the time his partner joined him. They finished changing and made for their upstairs apartment. By mutual consent, they decided not to open the garage. They were both just too tired from their adventure in space.

"Those aliens were tough and it felt strange working with Feral. I'm just glad he was powerful enough to end the conflict. I don't want to think what might have happened instead." Chance mused as he rummaged in the fridge for something to eat.

Jake was at the cupboards pulling a box of mac and cheese down. "We would have been taken over, destroyed, or maybe ignored since it was Feral they were looking for. Guess we'll never know," he commented as he pulled a pot out and filled it with water then setting it on the stove and switching the burner on.

He glanced at his partner as he waited for the water to boil. "Working with Feral as a team did feel odd but, you know, it just didn't feel like him at all. It wasn't just the fact he's really an alien but that he was hiding all that power. His self control, that we always swore he didn't possess, was actually very strong for him to resist using his abilities. And can you imagine giving up the skies to stay hidden? It makes me realize how much we don't know Feral at all."

Chance had pulled out the makings for a sandwich and was putting it together on the counter. "You got that right. I guess we'll get a chance to know him better now since he no longer has to hide who he is. And who he is...is one really dangerous and powerful alien that I bet can whoop Dark Kat's tail with barely any effort," he said admiringly.

"Oh yeah, without a doubt. We'll also have to get used to seeing him flying about under his own power now too." Jake said, pouring the noodles into the hot water.

"I wonder what it's like to be able to fly like a bird?" Chance mused, taking a bite of his sandwich and staring off into space.

"Exhilarating?" Jake said shrugging his shoulders in response as he made his dinner. This newly revealed Feral was going to change the way they interacted with the Enforcers. Jake had no doubts of that. Only time would tell how much of a change would occur and whether it would be good or bad for them.

**Out in space...**

Aboard the Frendorian spaceship, the crew were a beehive of activity cleaning up the mess from the attack and making repairs to the damaged control boards.

The Queen was holed up in her quarters. She'd not said much other than to give orders to insure the ship would be ready to depart in a few days.

Ztoram had spent a short time in the medical bay having his injuries treated but was now overseeing the repairs. Though his eyes were on the tasks going on around him, his mind was replaying what had happened here. They had underestimated Ulysses badly and they had paid for that arrogance. He was very glad they were not taking that male back to Frendor with them. He was certain it would have finished them as a species.

He glanced over to the door leading to the Queen's room off the bridge. For the first time he truly thought about the things Ulysses had said when he held Shlora prisoner. He'd known much of it, yes, but had allowed himself to ignore it since he hadn't wanted to be removed from his position and the Queen would have done so in a second, having him beheaded immediately after. But hearing what he'd known for decades stated so bluntly before the whole bridge crew had been a shock. The Queen's capitulation an even greater shock.

Queen Shlora had well and truly submitted to the male holding her and it had blown him completely away. Was that all it took? Should he take Ulysses' place and impose his will over the selfish Queen? Was this what she wanted? It appeared so by her behavior. Was it possible everyone had overlooked the fact that perhaps Shlora was lonely and unhappy?

That thought had him freezing in stunned revelation. At no time since becoming her second in command did he ever entertain the idea the Queen was unhappy emotionally and did anything to try and ease it.

Well how do you like that? He thought dazedly. It's obvious I just didn't see it because I was too close to the problem but now, Ulysses has shoved it into my face just by refusing to meekly obey the Queen's command.

Now that he'd had an epiphany, Ztoram needed to lay plans for forcing the Queen to submit to him and if their gods blessed him, perhaps he could even succeed in getting her to love him, eventually. But right now it was far more important to bring her to heel and save their people.

A small smile tugged his lips. Oh yes, I think I'm going to enjoy my new mission and on the long trip back to our world will be the perfect time to initiate it, he thought in anticipation.

He felt rather stupid about all the time wasted watching the Queen self destruct but that would stop now. He could help lead beside the Queen and becoming her consort would be his focus once they left this world. His spirits lifted as he made his plans.

He stayed on the bridge long enough to ensure the work would continue at a steady pace then made for his quarters. Preparing for sleep, his mind was busy with the mission to the planet and his hopes for becoming the future consort of the Queen. Yes, this trip had indeed been a success in a much more spectacular way then they'd ever imagined or planned.

Slipping under the covers and closing his eyes, his last thought was, I need to thank Ulysses privately for opening my eyes and giving me hope at last.

**Next day, Enforcer Headquarters, Biotech Labs...**

The Queen and Ztoram, listened and watched carefully as Ulysses' scientists and doctors began teaching her people what they needed to do to save their race.

When they had arrived an hour ago, Feral was pleased and amazed to see a much more subdued Queen who was only focused on what needed to be done. They had traded formal greetings then he'd led them to the lab.

In an efficient manner, Dr. Konway had done as Feral had asked and took control of the briefings, insuring each specialist was given sufficient time to inform and train the Queen's medics thoroughly before moving to the next specialist. He also had been responsible for attaining all the equipment and material the Queen would require to take with them.

Because they were a different race, the head specialist for the fertilization program politely asked to do a physical on the Queen with her own physician on hand before they started the briefings.

The doctor explained that her species might have significant differences from Katkind and some of their procedures might not work so if they could see how different she was from their race they could tailor the briefing to fit her more accurately. She saw the sense in this and willingly accepted. Her cooperation allowed them to show exactly what was needed to impregnate her when they returned home and how to monitor her afterward.

The entrance to the lab was heavily guarded with a combination of the Queen's personal guard and Feral's Enforcers. The atmosphere was a little strained since no one truly trusted the Queen but so far things had been going smoothly enough that Feral felt comfortable returning to his office.

He still was required to give a substantial sample for his Queen to take with her and that was why he retreated to his office. Now that the moment was here, he found it impossible to comply. As he stared at the simple little bottle, his face flamed with shame and embarrassment.

He'd not been very sexually active since being banished here some thirty years ago. It just felt uncomfortable trying to perform in this alternate form so, consequently, he was never satisfied. He'd resigned himself to having sex only about once a month to ease his body but not for enjoyment.

Now an entire race depended on his sperm and here he sat unable to do what was necessary. He shoved the container away and turned to stare out his huge wall of glass in frustration.

Gods! This is soo humiliating! He grumbled to himself.

His troubled thoughts were interrupted by the sound of high heels clacking on his tile floor. He turned in his seat and blinked in surprise to see Ms. Briggs striding up to his desk.

"Ms. Briggs? What can I do for you?" He asked, not rising.

She stopped in front of his desk, her eyes flicking briefly toward the sample bottle before returning to his face. "The Mayor wanted me to be on hand to ensure things went well and the aliens got what they needed. You know how he is," Callie explained with a casual shrug.

Feral grimaced. "He wants them gone as fast as possible."

She gave him a sympathetic smile. "You got it. So how are things going with the Queen?"

"Surprisingly well. She's been the model of cooperation. I'd liked to hope I managed to finally get through to her but I won't hold my breath on that. However, I can't deny she seems to be taking everything seriously and has paid me no attention," he admitted.

"That's a good thing then. I suspect from what you told me happened aboard her ship when you confronted her, it was the first time anyone had stood up to her and she didn't know how to handle it. Or...perhaps she found it a relief," Callie said thoughtfully.

Feral's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "How can you think that?"

"Well, if I was someone who was the ruler of all but had no one to dominate me, I think I would become very unhappy. However, I wouldn't be able to guess that was what was wrong with me so I would become self absorbed and selfish. But with a dominate partner who could take the burden of being in charge away for a little...well I would find that freeing. I could finally be myself for brief moments of time which is a blessing and a necessity. Really, Commander it's amazing how people in charge need to be given permission to just let go once in a while. It's a very healthy thing and destructive to your sense of well being when they don't," Callie explained.

He stared at her in amazement. He was surprised to admit that dominating the Queen had felt good and it explained why she had capitulated in his arms. That just blew him away. Living here had taught him to stand up for himself. Being dominate rather than submissive had been freeing to him so why shouldn't the opposite be true for the Queen.

"Well I'll be damn!" He murmured, shaking his head at this momentous revelation.


	7. Chapter 7

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 7: Helping the Commander

Callie couldn't help but smile. It appeared what she'd said had struck a major chord with the Commander. While he was thinking over this she couldn't help but let her eyes stray toward that sample bottle. Why hadn't he done his duty by now? Did he have a problem?

While she'd been musing, her eyes still on the bottle, Feral noticed her focus. He felt his face heat again but for a different reason as he was reminded of how she had looked at him when he was in his true form.

The silence pierced Callie's self absorption causing her eyes to jerk upward to meet his bemused gaze. Her face immediately flushed with heat and she bite her lip in embarrassment. Neither said anything as they stared at each other for a long moment.

Callie was the first to look away and stare out the bay of windows. "Uhmm, are you having...uh...difficulties making a contribution?" She asked, probing carefully around the very sensitive subject.

Feral nearly snorted aloud in response to that very carefully worded question. 'Hell, yes, he was having trouble but saying that out loud......no way!' He thought, squirming in his chair.

Out of the corner of her eye, Callie caught his uncomfortable shifting in his chair. 'Oh ho! So he **is** having problems. So what do I do about it and am I willing to do it? Geez, what am I, in heat? I only found him attractive just yesterday and here I am willing to......what.....shoot!' She found herself feeling embarrassed, excited, and bewildered at the same time.

Feral huffed out a stream of air trying to ease his tension then took in a deep breath, nearly choking when he caught the scent of arousal from the she-kat in front of him. 'Crud!' He blurted mentally, eyes going wide.

Her ears pricked up at the sudden inhale of air that stumbled partway and realized she must be telegraphing her desire. She dared to peer at him from half closed lids to see what his expression was. She nearly laughed as she beheld a pole-axed look in his eyes. That seemed to break the stalemate within her. She wasn't known for being shy so she turned back to him then moved to walk around his desk.

His eyes riveted on her as she walked, swaying her hips provocatively as she came up the steps to stand before his seated form. He swallowed as he turned to face her but still didn't rise from his seat.

"Uh.....Ms. Briggs....?" He asked hesitantly, his voice going husky.

"Please.....call me Callie and would you mind taking your true form for me?" She asked, eyes bright with a hint of devilment in them.

His heart began to pound more rapidly but he stayed still and unmoving for a long moment while staring into those brilliant green eyes before finally allowing his form to change. His new form was now tall enough to look her straight into her eyes and he nearly didn't fit in his chair due to his wings that were folded behind him.

Her breath left her in one long exhale as she beheld his true form again. 'Oh God! He is so breathtaking.' She thought, her heart beginning to gallop and other areas getting very aroused. However, she couldn't deny he was also intimidating and deadly. How could she be so drawn to such an alien looking creature? But she couldn't deny she was. Her paw itched to touch those unusual antenna and that incredible mane of ebony hair. Part of it hung rakishly between his eyes then swept back between his ears and down his back.

He was wearing a black form fitting body suit with red highlights over his shoulders and went down to a V over his chest to his stomach. His arms and legs were free of any clothing. The red tipped dark brown fur looked soft. '

'What would it feel like to run her fingers through it?' She wondered.

"You look like you want to eat me?" Feral murmured in a deep voice.

Her eyes flicked to his amazing gold eyes tinted blood red and slitted. They made her shiver. In a distant voice, she whispered, "I was just curious to know what your fur would feel like under my fingers."

"Go ahead. Check it out for yourself." He whispered back, afraid to move.......afraid he might frighten her away.

Callie leaned forward and sent her fingers through his hanging bangs. His hair was like silk. Moving her fingers to his face, she felt fur as soft as cashmere or a rabbit's coat.

She exhaled a word, "Soft...."

He shivered at her touch. How long had it been since he'd been touched this way? How about never! 'Oh Gods!' Something that hadn't risen naturally for so long now strained in its prison as she continued to explore his face then arms.

"You look so intimidating, so dangerous, yet so incredibly sexy......your fur is soo soft but your body is rock hard with more muscles than I've ever seen on a tom." She murmured as she explored this incredible creature. She paused as a serious thought crossed her mind. Pulling her gaze back to his eyes she asked, "Are you safe with Kats?"

He smiled, revealing more of those sharp canines. "Yes, I've had sex with Kats before but that was in my altered form. In my true form I'm much bigger so preparation would be necessary but we are enough alike to share the same erotic reactions, if that answers your question." He said, a little amused.

She smiled and relaxed. "Yes, it does. But for the moment, you have a problem to solve and I'd be honored to help you take care of it." She said, dropping a paw to his groin and stroking it.

He sucked in a breath at the erotic shock wave she caused him. "Ohh yes, I think you might indeed." He gasped.

Grinning wickedly, she stroked him again and it took all his effort not to lunge out of the chair and pull her down to the floor. This wasn't the time for that.....perhaps later.

"So how do I release you from this outfit of yours?" She asked after a moments puzzled search.

"Oh....just a moment...." He said, blushing a bit. He reached down and released a sort of codpiece covering allowing his huge, dark red member to wave proudly in the cool air.

She studied it a moment. It was at least ten inches long and some three inches thick. It had the usual veins running its length and the only thing different from a tom was it didn't have the small rubbery like protuberances. The other difference was he possessed three balls rather than one.

"Oh my! You are really built for breeding aren't you?" She breathed at the sight.

"Uh....well yes, we normally breed with several females during mating season. We're not monogamous as you are. I think that was by necessity come to think of it as our numbers decreased. I'm ashamed to admit I never noticed we were disappearing when I was still living on Frendor." He said thoughtfully.

As she caressed his ball sack with curiosity, she asked, "Are you sure you aren't different from your own kind? After all, I remember hearing and seeing their surprise by you. They said you must have benefited from living here to show so many of the gene traits they had lost." She said quizzically.

"Humph! I don't know. Funny, before I came here I looked like a rather puny version of Ztoram. I honestly didn't even think about just how much more different I appear now but you're right, I am somewhat more than my kind is now." He said thoughtfully.

"Well, aren't we lucky. We get the best of your kind living amongst us." She said huskily, leaning forward and carefully giving him a kiss avoiding the fangs.

He groaned and gently wrapped his arms around her slim body, sweeping her into his lap. She gasped but didn't stop kissing him as she squirmed her body a bit to allow her skirt to hike up more and make her more comfortable. She kicked off her shoes which landed beneath his desk.

He ran one paw up to her beautiful fall of blond hair and ran his fingers through it. She sighed at his touch. He started to nuzzle her face and encountered her glasses. Pausing, he reached up and gently removed them and laid them safely on his desk then returned to nuzzling her face while she buried her nose in his neck.

His scent was so very different and enticing. She had no words to describe it but it turned her on incredibly. Under her bottom, she could feel his hard member pulsating beneath making her even more excited.

Her squirming bottom was driving him insane. He couldn't recall being this hard before or how badly he wanted to bury himself within that hot, welcoming female but his sperm was needed elsewhere........damn it! Can you say frustrating!

He had a bad feeling he wasn't going to be able to hold out much longer since it had been way too long since he felt such intense desire.

"Callie...." He gasped warningly.

She pulled her head back a bit so she could look him in the eye. She could feel the tension building within him and his member was twitching madly beneath her.

"Ohhh, someone's not had any for a while......right?" She said smiling but moved off his lap quickly. "Well, we can't waste it....." She said, quickly sweeping the bottle into her palm, opening the lid, then using her claws to tease his cock from base to tip to send him over the edge.

Feral nearly leaped from the chair as a phenomenal climax shot through him. Callie grinned at her success as she caught his slightly bluish-white semen into the bottle. He was like a fountain and nearly filled the container before his spasms eased at last and he went limp in the chair though his tool was still semi-hard.

"Wow! Impressive output there, Ulysses." Callie said with a smirk as she capped the bottle and placed it on the desk.

He blushed furiously and was grateful it wouldn't show through his dark coloring. He managed a weak smile.

"Thank you for your excellent help. You're very talented." He said, sincerely.

Callie smile broadened. "If you thought that was good, wait until we get down to the good stuff." She promised wickedly.

He gulped and felt himself get excited again, unfortunately, now wasn't the time to indulge. However, there was one thing he did have time for.......a proper thank you. He reached a long arm out and pulled Callie back to his lap again, halting any objections by pressing another passionate kiss on her.

She moaned in his mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck in renewed passion. He slipped a paw down to her legs and began to run his fingers along her thighs, drawing his claws lightly between them which caused her to open them in excitement.

While he continued to kiss her senseless, his fingers pressed forward and slipped beneath her panties. Expertly, he rubbed a thumb over her swollen clit making her jump and moan frantically. When she was thoroughly wet and overwhelmed, only then did he slip two fingers within her and begin thrusting firmly.

Callie thought she was going to go mad. Ulysses may not have had sex very often or even lately, but there was no doubt he had been well trained in the art of pleasuring a female. She was soaring and her channel was tightening more and more as he continued his thrusting motion and his thumb kept pace shooting jolts of pleasure through her.

She'd already been hot in the first place and in very little time he sent her flying. Her mouth was being held captive so her scream was muffled by that talented mouth. She shuddered and mewed as ripples of exquisite pleasure poured through her. Finally she went lax in his arms, her body slumping down until her head was under his chin and she could hear a strange heartbeat against her ear.

She listened as she recovered then raised her head. "How come your heart sounds like its beating in double time?" She asked, confused.

"Oh, that's because we have double hearts." Feral told her smiling down at her.

"Really? That's amazing. One of these days, I'm going to have to have you tell me all the things that make you different from us outside the obviously visual ones." She mused. "Anyway, that felt wonderful, you are very talented yourself."

"Why thank you. Unfortunately, we have to break it up now so I can deliver this downstairs. Again thank you for your valuable assistance and I reserve the right to call on you sometime soon when our guest are long gone." He said.

"You're most welcome and I expect you to honor that promise." Callie said warmly, giving him a parting kiss before leaving his lap reluctantly.

He grinned at her then altered his form again. She stared at him myopically. He chuckled as he reached for her glasses and placed them on her face. Blinking then focusing her eyes, she studied him curiously.

"Now that's a handy trick. You don't smell of sex and you're as fresh as if we never did anything. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for me." She said wrinkling her nose.

"Hmmm, I happen to like how you smell but I understand it wouldn't be terribly professional of you to return to your office smelling of me and the interesting time we just had. You're welcome to use my restroom while I'm gone. Join us when you're ready." He said, then leaned down and retrieved her shoes, handing them to her. She slipped them on as he got up, whisked the specimen bottle into his palm then escorted her off his pedestal.

"Thank you, I think I'll do that. See you in a few minutes." She said as he made for his door and she headed to his private bathroom, picking up her abandoned purse on the way.

He nodded and vanished out the door, closing it behind him. She sighed and entered the bathroom to clean up. As she brushed her hair and reapplied her makeup, her mind flew back to the past thirty minutes that had been the hottest sex she'd had in a long while. She shivered as she thought about just how much hotter it would be when they lay together soon. She could hardly wait.

Feral was practically whistling to himself as he took the elevator down to the Biotech Labs. 'Gods! Callie is soo hot. I can hardly wait to be with her in a bed. Things are finally looking up for me.' He thought giddily.


	8. Chapter 8

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 8: The Frendorians Leave

When he walked into the lab with his sample, he saw the Queen and Ztoram over at a desk littered with pamphlets and folders, listening to a geneticist with deeply focused attention. They never noticed his arrival. The SWAT Kats were lounging against the wall near the entrance to the lab. They may have seemed relaxed but Feral could tell they were alert for trouble. He gave them a passing nod they returned as he passed them and went further into the lab.

He moved to where Dr. Konway was giving instructions to a group of Frendorian technicians on how to transport the delicate equipment required for their fertilization program. A large canister was standing nearby waiting for its important cargo.

Feral came up to Konway's side and tapped him on the shoulder. Konway turned his head in mild annoyance. His expression cleared immediately when he realized it was the Commander and that he was holding a specimen bottle.

"Oh, you've got the sample. Excellent, sir," Konway said, pleased. He carefully took the container from Feral. "First we need to have it checked before we pack it," he said more to himself than his superior who followed the scientist as he strode across the room to a group of fertilization experts instructing medical specialists from Frendor.

One of the doctors took the sample and headed to a work table followed by his students. Over the next fifteen minutes, they tested his sperm for motility and health.

While they were busy, Feral just stood out of their way and watched the activity going on around him. Some minutes later, Callie entered, said hello to the SWAT Kats before joining him.

"How are things going?" She asked curiously, as she studied all the activity.

"Very well! It appears we'll be getting them out of here within the hour."

"That's great to hear," she murmured as she watched a scientist carrying the sample she'd helped to obtain over to Dr. Konway who took it and carefully poured the contents into a strong glass cylinder then sealed it tightly. Using gloves, Konway carefully opened a larger cylinder made of metal sitting on the floor.

When it's lid came off, cold vapors poured out. Using a pair of tongs, Konway, with some Frendorians watching closely, picked up the glass cylinder and lowered it into the metal one. Moments later he replaced the heavy lid which made a soft shuup sound as it sealed tight.

"There you are. Sealed tight and kept cold for safe transport. See that it doesn't get jostled and is padded on your return trip," Konway told the Frendorians as he used his gloves to pick up the metal canister and place it inside a padded wooden crate. One of his techs was standing by and now came forward to set the top of the crate on, then hammered it on with nails.

The Frendorians watching and listening nodded understanding at Konway's instructions and when the canister was ready, they moved to form a circle around the cargo then vanished seconds later.

With its departure, suddenly more vanishings were occurring in quick fashion around the room as different groups completed their tasks and shipped various pieces of equipment back to their ship. Some forty-five minutes later, only the Queen and Ztoram were left.

"I wish to convey my thanks once more, Ms. Briggs......Ulysses.....for giving us such a precious gift. Now our race has hope of recovery," Shlora said regally, bowing her head to the pair.

"You are welcome, Queen Shlora. I hope it is a salvation for you and has not come too late," Callie said politely. "Have a safe trip home."

"Thank you," the Queen said sincerely then turned to face Feral. "Ulysses, nothing I can say will repair what I've done to you. You've proven yourself a much better person than I by forgiving the treatment given you in the past to aid your race now in its time of need. I hope you are truly happy here."

"I am very happy here. Please don't take this wrong, but I sincerely hope I never lay eyes on you again," Feral said grimly.

The Queen felt a sudden flush of anger at that bald statement and was about to snap a nasty retort when her second in command gently but firmly grasped her arm in warning.

"I'd like to give you a firm answer that we won't but if we run into problems or need more samples, we reserve the right to return for that purpose only," Ztoram said firmly making terms without consulting his Queen. "We dare not shut the door permanently to our only salvation."

Shlora blinked in shock that Ztoram dared to suggest an agreement usurping her position. But instead of being furious, she found herself unaccountably grateful that he was thinking and acting as a leader concerned for their kind's future. That embarrassed her inside but at the same time made her feel free of always being in charged. It felt wonderful. Perhaps she should spend some personal time with her second in command. It seems something of Ulysses might have rubbed off on him.

Feral didn't fail to note Ztoram taking charge and he mentally hooted with laughter. 'Well, well, maybe the Queen might have found her dominant male after all. Way to go Ztoram.' Aloud though, he said, "I understand, much as it pains me. I insist, then, that you call ahead to my headquarters when you arrive in orbit. Only a small contingency of six Frendorian techs or scientists or a mix of both types will be allowed to step foot on our planet.....no exceptions."

Shlora shook herself of her mental wool gathering and realized this was as good as they would get from this powerful male. "I agree. Do you wish this in some form of written statement?"

"Yes. We can do that right here, right now since the Deputy Mayor is on paw to witness it and speak for the Mayor of our city to make this binding," Feral concurred.

"Fine. Let's get to it. I wish to leave orbit immediately," Shlora said flatly.

Nodding, Feral went to Konway's office and gathered up the things they needed. Konway was asked to get a secretary to type it up. Working together the group wrote up a draft accepted by all then a nervous but efficient secretary quickly typed it up and made copies.

The documents were read by all those involved, agreed to then signed by all parties. The Queen took her copy and Ms. Briggs took a copy to be filed in official city records while Feral took one to be filed in his report on this incident.

Satisfied that all had been accomplished, the Queen and Ztoram vanished without another word. Though she had said they were leaving immediately, Feral wouldn't relax until he was certain the Frendorians had indeed left orbit.

He turned his head toward the pair now heading for them. "SWAT Kats, I need you to go into space in about thirty minutes to do a quick scan to determine our unwanted guests have indeed left."

"Good idea. Be glad to do it. We'll give you a holler on the radio to let you know," T-Bone said gruffly.

"Thanks," Feral said then turned back to Callie. "I'll give you a call as soon as they give me the all clear."

"Great! I won't say it's safe to the Mayor until you let me know," Callie agreed.

"You want a lift to city hall, Ms. Briggs?" Razor asked as they all moved to leave the lab.

"No thanks. I have my car here. Take care guys," she told them in farewell. They nodded and smiled as they took an elevator to the flight line.

Feral and Callie took a different elevator to go down to the lobby. Feral had decided to escort her there before returning to his office.

"Shall we exchange numbers for a meeting later," he rumbled softly. He had returned to his Kat disguise when he'd stepped into the elevator.

Callie stared at him under her long lashes, giving him a seductive smile as she reached into her purse for one of her business cards and a pen. She wrote her personal phone number down for him and handed it to him as he did the same.

His eyes glowed with a dark erotic fire that promised he would be calling her very soon. She blushed hotly and her body heated from just that look.

"I'll hold you to that look later," she breathed.

"I look forward to it," he rumbled hotly.

Their intimate moment was broken by the doors opening. He watched her cross the lobby with quick steps, her heels making a loud clack clack as she reached the doors and disappeared through them. Smiling to himself, he stepped back into the elevator and hit the button for his office.

Lifting off the enforcer flight line, T-Bone sent the Turbokat toward home. "At least we have time to refuel before going into space," he said as he goosed the throttle to get them home quicker.

"Roger that," Razor said agreeably.

It took them only ten minutes to get home, then another fifteen to load some fuel before they were once more in the air heading for space.

"Okay, we're here, buddy. What's your sensors say?" T-Bone said gruffly as he put the Turbokat into an orbital pattern.

"Checking............all clear! Nothing but space junk up here now," Razor said in relief.

"Fantastic, let's get home then. You call Feral!" T-Bone said, thankful their powerful visitors had departed with no further trouble.

"You got it!" Razor affirmed as he engaged their radio and called to the enforcer tower.

Feral received the message some minutes later and sighed with relief. He picked up his phone and reached Callie with the good news. She thanked him warmly then went into Mayor's office to brief him that they were once more safe.

As the SWAT Kats returned home, one thing ran through T-Bone's mind. Soon they would be free of their omega problem as well. He had no doubt Feral was up to the task of ridding their city of the constant headaches and he, for once, wouldn't begrudge the enforcer the right to crow about his triumphs.

He hadn't been lying when he'd told Feral he and Razor were hardily tired of fighting the same criminals over and over again. When they got taken out this time, hopefully, they would stay gone......permanently.

With that pleasant daydream in his head, he brought them safely home. Only time would tell if his wish would come true.


	9. Chapter 9

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 9: An Interesting Conversation

Now that things were more or less back to normal, Feral was able to focus on just doing his job once more and getting used to his new notoriety as the resident alien on Aristal.

The various news agencies were badgering him for an interview and more pics of him in his true form. Though he had originally decided to take his true form more often to fly about the city, he'd had time to think twice about parading around in his true form.

What T-Bone had said when they'd been in space struck a chord with him. Taking out the omegas was a top priority and now he didn't have to hide his abilities to do it. However, he did not want the criminals to be too familiar with his appearance nor with his capabilities.

Though he'd been on the news with clips of the battle fought on the ground, that still hadn't given the people or criminals enough to know exactly what he was fully capable of. He did take his form to fly around the city but never allowed anyone to get close enough to get a good look at him. The only ones who knew him the best was the SWAT Kats and he intended to keep it that way as his ace in the hole.

Until the omegas were permanently incarcerated or dead, he would keep a low profile. For now he ignored the public's clamoring for information about him. The Mayor tried to force the issue, thinking it would give the city government a boost in its reputation to be known as having a powerful alien residing in their city.

But Feral refused to play that game. He took his true form and loomed menacingly over Manx who huddled in terror as far down in his office chair as he could.

"I told you as bluntly as I can that I have no intention of allowing the people of this city to know anymore about me than was released when I first changed. I also told you why. Now live with it and leave it be!" He snarled coldly.

"A-l-l-l right! I got it!" Manx stuttered in fear.

Giving Manx a final look of warning, Feral returned to his Kat form then stalked out of the Mayor's office.

Manx pulled out a large handkerchief and wiped his sweating brow. He realized at that moment, he could no longer bully Feral as he used to with the power of his office. Feral was a stranger to him now and one who should never be crossed if one wanted to stay healthy.

He scowled unhappily at that truth. 'Guess I'll have to let Callie deal with him from now on. Strange how she has no problem being near him. Oh well! Doesn't matter! As long as I don't have to deal with him,' he thought in relief.

Callie couldn't help but smirk at Manx's discomfort but she carefully hid her mirth. She had no problem accepting his order to be liaison between him and Feral. At least now she and the Chief Enforcer could get things done quicker without always going through the pompous fool.

It wasn't until three days had passed since the Frendorian ship had left that Feral finally called her at home. She had to admit she was beginning to get a little worried that perhaps she'd come on too strong.

"Ms. Briggs, here!"

"Callie? Would you like some company tonight?" A deep voice asked over the line.

Her heart leaped, 'Ohh, yes.....I haven't scared him off!' She thought excitedly. "Yes I would......after the kind of day I've had that's the best offer I've heard," she purred.

"Excellent. Have you eaten yet?"

"I was just trying to figure out what to fix when you called. You have something in mind?"

"Hmm, maybe.....how about I surprise you. See you in thirty minutes?"

"I'll be waiting."

"See you shortly," Feral said warmly, hanging up and grabbing his jacket to leave his apartment.

He was humming to himself as he drove to a place he loved. It served food very reminiscent to his home world. Very soon, with order in paw, he was stepping out of the elevator and walking toward her apartment. He rang her bell.

Ever since his call, Callie had been hurrying around tidying her place, setting the table, pulling out a bottle of wine to breathe and setting some scented candles around. Then she showered and got dressed in a slinky, emerald green lounge dress that reached her bare feet.

She'd just finished lighting the candles when her doorbell rang. Her heart leaped to her throat and she had to take several deep calming breaths before opening the door.

He stood there with a small smile on his face and bags hanging from his paw where a delectable odor was rising to tickle her nose. He was simply dressed in black slacks, loafers, and a button up shirt of gold.

"Hmmm, that smells good. Come on in. Let's go to the dining room and serve this up.....I'm starving," she said leading the way and trying to stifle herself when she realized she was babbling.

Feral grinned more widely at her nervous chatter, pleased he was causing such a reaction in the usually unflappable Deputy Mayor. 'Ah yes, tonight is going to be good,' he mused, ogling her rear swaying sexily before him as she led the way further into her apartment. He could kick himself for not having noticed just how fetching she was.

He helped her serve up the food; a concoction of chicken, pork, and beef served on a bed of egg noodles and steeped in a spicy flavoring. There were soft bread sticks and skewers of various meats and vegetables to go along with it. She smiled at him as he poured them each a glass of wine, helped her with her chair then sat across from her. She'd never had this dish before and it smelled delicious. She took a nice healthy bite.

Her eyes widened as she made a mad grab for some bread then her drink. The food was so fiery it set her tongue on fire. "Wooo! That is hot!" She gasped when she could catch her breath.

Feral grinned as he continued to stuff himself with the spicy food. "It's my favorite dish. They make it hot enough for a Kat's palate but for me, I usually have to add mongo pepper sauce to really ratchet up the heat for me to truly like it but its close enough for tonight."

"I can't believe you want this hotter, not that it's not delicious because it is but far too hot for me!" Callie said, eating some more bread to ease her poor mouth. "Is that just your preference or do all your kind like to eat really spicy food?"

"It's a species thing. You see our food supplies were declining the same as our race was, reducing us to eating laboratory produced food......very bland stuff. So they learned to really spice it up to hide the plainness of it. Hence our need for our food to nearly strip the paint off a wall, so to speak," he said in amusement.

"When I got here, though, your more naturally spiced food got me swooning with the first bite. From then on, I tried everything your planet had to offer and thought I was in my version of heaven. For the first time food tasted delicious and I ate a lot of it which helped me put on much needed weight on my too thin body. I was pretty stunned that having a good diet would do what it did to my body. Diet and health were never mentioned in the same conversation during our formative years. We just accepted we were meant to be anemic looking. The government had made sure we weren't aware this wasn't the way things should be," he observed thoughtfully.

"I'm glad we had something you truly enjoyed here," Callie said, smiling as she watched him put away the food with enthusiasm. "But I'm shocked to hear your government deliberately misled your people to believe that was normal. How could none of see how unhealthy your population was? Why didn't your people rise up and insist a change be instituted to correct things before they got that bad?" She asked, having wondered about this one point after being told about the horrendous conditions on Feral's home world.

"Because our beloved Queen told us this was the way things were and we believed her. You must understand something, Callie. We weren't allowed to think for ourselves. Our whole life was driven to obey and do our Queen's bidding. If that meant eating processed food.....that's what we did. If we were supposed to restrict our breeding....that's what we did. We simply didn't know of any other way to be," Feral said quietly, finishing his food and shoving his plate away then picking up his wine glass.

"But that's.......I'm sorry, I just can't fathom a whole species doing the bidding of just one person for so long and not realize what it was doing to them and their world," Callie said in shocked disbelief.

"Well, I didn't know any better until I was exiled here. Now that was an eye opener for me. I was shocked and disturbed to see your kind going about their business the way they pleased. Free will was just words that had no meaning to me so it took some time to get used to it. I wandered around your world lost and confused. However, having access to better food and the exercise I got during my travels made me feel better....healthier. I also used the time to quickly learn your language and way of life. I searched for a safe haven to set down roots when I finally landed here in Megakat City," he said shaking his head then getting a sip of wine before continuing.

"Talk about overwhelming......if it weren't for joining the enforcers I wouldn't have been able to cope with the chaos of such a large city. I most likely would have retreated into my mind or become a recluse. However, the structure governing the enforcers helped me get my footing and accept my exile more easily. I soon grew to love living here despite all its problems," he said seriously.

"I can't even grasp what it was like for you to be on such a radically different world from your own and trying to survive. I'm not sure I would have done as well as you managed to," Callie said shaking her head. "I have to say, you succeeded so well no one realized you were a stranger. I salute you on your acting skills," she said sincerely.

Feral smiled at that heartfelt statement. "Thank you. It was very fortunate that the conditions of your world were favorable to me. I was truly shocked that I didn't die from the food and water much less the cleaner air. Instead it helped me heal, gain in weight and in stature. When I altered to my true appearance at frequent intervals to exercise my wings, I was always stunned at my newly powerful form. I was very puny and should have remained so but now look at me."

"Yes, now look at you. I may not have seen you when you arrived but I certainly could tell your change had been truly dramatic just by the way your Queen's tongue was practically hanging out when she saw you for the first time," Callie smirked at the memory.

"She did?" He asked in surprise.

"Oh yes, she did! You were a bit too angry to notice at the time but I didn't miss it. At that moment she would have given anything to make you hers, you impressed her that much," Callie told him with certainty.

"Well I'm just glad I didn't notice then. I didn't want anything to do with the bitch," Feral said tightly, taking a large swallow of his drink.

"I didn't mean to upset you Ulysses........" Callie said hurriedly, reaching out to touch him on the arm soothingly, not wanting to spoil their evening.

"It's okay, Callie. I just need to forget the past and concentrate on my new future," he said, letting go a sigh and relaxing, patting her paw to show he meant it.

"Good, I'm glad you feel that way," She said in relief as she again tried to eat the spicy food, gave it up and took one of the skewers of meat instead.....it was delicious. She ate quietly for the next few minutes while Feral watched, slowly drinking his wine. Another thought came to her mind that had troubled her as much as the other one she'd asked.

"I am puzzled by something else though.......is the ability to change shape a normal thing for your kind?"

"Well, it used to be when our world was young. Our history speaks of the ability but it had been centuries since anyone had been able to do it. It was thought because of our races declining health we no longer had the energy and strength necessary to make the change," he explained.

"Yet, you have changed your shape," Callie pointed out.

"Yes, and that's a direct result of having a better diet. Surprisingly the nutrients on your world were compatible with my system and allowed me to regress to the state my specious was all those years ago. That's why they wanted me so badly. It's a good thing they hadn't really thought about that while they were here. They were too preoccupied with saving our race. But, if they had stopped to think about why I looked the way I did, I fear we would have had a different and not so pleasant result from their visit," he said grimly, only just realizing how bad things could have gotten if the Queen had realized the true value of this world.

Callie went pale as she followed Feral's reasoning. "Oh my! They could have stripped our planet or even made us their slaves to get what they badly needed to save their race. You don't think they might finally realize that and come back?" She asked fearfully.

Rather than answer immediately, Feral sat back and thought hard about it for some minutes. Callie watched him as she nervously picked at her food.

He startled her when he suddenly spoke. "No, I sincerely don't think they will return to conquer you. They have far too many problems to deal with.....extinction being a real factor right now.... to have time to focus on anything else. Hopefully, when they solve that problem, if they do, then they'll have other avenues to research rather than us. There are other races we traded with that supplied the things we could no longer produce so they should continue to seek them out for anything else they need. Worrying about is just unproductive at this point."

Callie sighed. "I hope you're right."

He could only shrug his shoulders. What else could he say?

"I hope you're not put off by all these questions," she said demurely.

"No, I understand your need to know more about me. Go ahead and ask, I'll let you know if there's things I'd rather not talk about," he reassured her.

"Thank you. I appreciate your understanding my need but I promise there's only one more thing I need to ask then I'll leave the subject be," she said.

"Sure, what's that?"

"Are you able to change into different forms besides the one you took to blend in?"

"Actually, no! I'm not certain why, but once I chose this form, I found I couldn't take any other one besides my original one," he said.

"Really? That's odd. You know, you should have the doctors do a complete workup on you to not only figure out why that is but to get a base line for your normal form besides the one they have on your altered one. If you're injured or ill they will need to know what to do for you."

"Huh! I never even thought about the necessity for that but then I wasn't letting anyone know that I wasn't what I seemed either. That's a good idea and I'll get it done as soon as possible. As for finding out why I can only take one other shape besides my own, I'm not too concerned if they can't. I'm quite attached to his form now and wouldn't want to play around with others. That might be a bit too disturbing," he decided.

"I have to admit, I'd find that just way too weird if you could," Callie agreed.

He chuckled at her response then changed the subject. "I hope your stomach isn't abusing you because I have a delicious desert for you to try that might ease the burn the food gave you."

"It was hot but delicious and I loved the rest of the food you brought and I'm not suffering from it, I promise you," she said smiling warmly at him. The hot food had actually made her feel really warm all over in a good way. "Desert sounds interesting. What is it?"

"That's a surprise for later. Shall we clean up or would you rather leave it?" Feral rumbled deep in his chest as he stood up.

"Leave it for now. What do you have in mind for the rest of the evening?" She asked, eyeing him suspiciously then gasped as he came to her side then lowered his face to hers to steal a deeply passionate kiss.


	10. Chapter 10

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 10: Playtime

She groaned and returned the kiss a little reluctantly because she wanted that extra zing she got when she was with his true form. However, before she could voice her desire, she felt him alter in her arms, grow larger....broader. Pulling her head back a little she found herself staring into those unusual blood-tinged gold, slitted, eyes.

Shivering with pleasure and grinning excitedly, she pulled his head back to her so she could continue their potent kiss with a little more enthusiasm. She felt his chuckle against her chest as he returned her ardor with some serious attention of his own to her mouth.

Feral wrapped her tightly in his arms, feeling her luscious curves pressed against his own hard chest and urgent groin. He'd been pleased and surprised at just how much she wanted his true form. It made him feel more at home on this world than all the years he'd already spent since his exile. In thanks, he would give her a night she would never forget.

He tapped his tongue against her lips, requesting entry. She opened willingly and tagged his tongue with her own in an erotic duel that made him mad to have her. However, he didn't want to hurry their first encounter.......there was plenty of night left to get to the more intimate stuff.

Callie lost herself completely in the haze of delicious pleasure he was weaving around them. Their tongues slid against each other and dueled for supremacy over the other. She would explore his mouth, her tongue gliding over those enormous fangs making him shudder.

In his turn, Ulysses slid his tongue past hers to deep throat her, sending hot stabs of erotic fire to her most sensitive parts. Her arms could barely go around his powerful body but where she could reach, she slipped her fingers under his shirt and dug her claws gently into that thick fur and stroked his back. He shivered with pleasure under her ministrations.

He wasn't lax at returning her attention as he caressed her back from neck to tail with his broad paws, occasionally pausing to skritch the base of her tail with his fingertips, sending her to her toes in delight.

She couldn't believe how wet and swollen she was for him from just kissing! His mouth should be a sin. Her fingers explored his face when they'd parted briefly to catch their breath. Her fingers encountered those strange antenna like protrusions on the top of his head. They felt like thick whiskers with odd hard nobs at their tips. She felt along their lengths, puzzling over them as she went from where they exited his head to the hard bony end. Touching that caused her huge lover to gasp and pull his head out of her reach to stare at her with glowing hot eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," Callie said contritely.

He shook his head. "You didn't. They are just sensitive to touch," he responded grinning at her reassuringly.

"Really? What are they for?" She asked curiously.

His smile widened. "Ohh, you'll find out soon enough," he purred dipping his head again to use his tongue to lick a path from the top of her ear to the side of her face and down to the underside of her jaw. She moaned and writhed against him encouragingly.

He was back at her mouth again but instead of a full kiss he made love to her lips, giving little nips to the top lip, tickling the side of her mouth with the tip of his talented tongue then dancing away once more to lick some new area of her face. It didn't take him long to reduce her to a candle wick waiting for a match to light her on fire.

But after making her a writhing mess of need he suddenly pulled back from her face. Shocked, she whimpered in dismay only to whoop in surprise when he suddenly slipped an arm under her legs and lifted her up to cradle her against his chest.

He walked across the dining area, through the living room, then down a hallway. "Which is yours?" He murmured.

"The one on the left at the end," she said eagerly, never had she wanted to be bedded so badly.

He reached the indicated room and shoved the partly open door with his shoulder, stepping through then walking toward the queen sized bed to lay her down.

He grinned down at her with hot eyes. She gave him a wicked grin and a come hither look. His grin widened as she watched him, thinking he would now undress but what he did next left her blinking in surprise. His antenna glowed softly for a moment and suddenly his clothes vanished leaving him gloriously naked.

'Oh, so that's what they're for......maybe,' she thought bewildered. She shook herself mentally and shoved the mystery of his antenna out of her mind for the moment. She had more important things to think about.

That powerful body held her attention now as she cataloged his differences from her species with her eyes. His chest was much broader with large black colored nipples rising from a silky coat of that incredible dark brown fur tipped in red and his ebony mane rose nearly as high as his long tassel-topped ears, before flowing in a long fall down his back. Stray locks of it lay across his forehead giving him a rakish look.

As she studied his face hovering over hers, she realized he no longer had a mustache and his chin was more rounded, giving his face a more handsome cast rather than the rugged one he sported in his Kat form.

His long fangs were gleaming white tusks that extended out of either side of his mouth and up his face about two inches. Callie was surprised they hadn't impeded their kissing.

His slim fur covered tail with that wicked hook and fan of fur at its tip, swished gently behind him. She shivered a little at it the equally lethal hooks at the back of his heels and wondered at their purpose. Shaking her head, she returned her look to his body as a whole.

Letting her eyes go back up to his face then down that ripped body once more, she halted at the pride of any male, a magnificent cock that was already at half mast. Her heart was doing back flips at the sight of him and her vagina spasmed with desire to have that huge kathood buried within her.

"Like what you see?" His voice rumbled darkly with amusement and other things as he waited patiently for her get her fill of him. It did his ego a world of good to see that hungry look on her face.

"Oh yeah......you're just......." her voiced trailed off, words just not working for what she felt.

"Hmm, I think I get the idea but one of us has too many clothes on," he growled as he backed up a little on the bed so he could grasp the edge of her dress and begin pulling it up her body. She raised her hips to help him out and he grinned at that then halted in surprise.......she wore nothing underneath it.

His eyes flicked to her, an eyebrow rising in wicked pleasure. "Prepared were we?" He asked huskily then, not waiting for an answer, continued to pull the dress the rest of the way off her.

Callie sat up and raised her arms as he pulled it up and off her body. His eyes stayed fixed on her now revealed creme colored, silky furred, naked body. It was well muscled and fit from her perfect sized breasts to her flat stomach and firm thighs.

'She should be able to handle what I planned to dish out very nicely,' he thought with hungry anticipation.

She gave him a naughty smirk as she laid back down and waited for him. He tossed her dress toward a chair in the corner of the room then drop to all fours to crawl forward until he shadowed her body completely.

She licked her lips as her mouth went dry at the overwhelmingly maleness of his presence. She had never been with a male so powerful and deadly. Truly, she should be shaking in terror and wanting to run as far away as she could. Instead, she was practically salivating for him. She could only think it was his alien scent that had her so turned on.

His nose flared as he took in her hot erotic scent of femaleness. She was so very ready for him but he wasn't ready for her. He had a few tricks yet to play before they joined their bodies. His size dictated he make sure she was very lubricated and open to his invasion.

"Soon...." he crooned as he lowered his head to her breasts and suckled them one at a time, lavishing lots of attention on each nipple until they were taut peaks. One paw drifted down her body, caressing her until he reached her thighs where he teased her by using his claws delicately in an up and down motion from her mons to her knee and back again.

Callie cried out and writhed helplessly as he set fire to her sensitive nerve endings with each stroke.

"Oh God!"

"Like that, eh?" He asked wickedly as he moved to her other thigh.

"Yes.....yes......oooooo.....please......"

She begged soo sweetly to his ears, his cock hardening into stone at the sound but he kept himself firmly in control. Giving her breasts one last kiss apiece, he moved down her body, licking a path to her navel, giving a moments attention before reaching her hot center.

Her rich juices were already pouring freely in anticipation of his taking her. Growling deep in his throat, he flicked his long tongue out and slurped her offering.

Callie's eyes widened in shocked heat and with a scream escaping her mouth, her hips lurched upward halted by his gentle paws from slapping him in the face.

He settled down to eating her pussy out. Only a few minutes at licking and slipping his tongue into her hot clit caused her overheated body to explode.

She screamed and shuddered for long seconds before collapsing in a heaving heap on the bed. His head came up, her juices dripping down his chin, a look of hunger in his smoldering eyes that held a promise of so much more.

She panted frantically and her throat dried as she watched him in shaky excitement as he put his head back to her clitoris and repeated his torture. Screaming yet again as a truly intense orgasm was ripped from her, she thought she'd died and gone to heaven. Her head was spinning and the endorphins were making her feel light as air. She honestly didn't think she could take anymore.

He could tell by her expression that she was floating and thinking she was done. He grinned wolfishly as he prepared to prove her wrong. He returned to her clitoris one more time and took her flying but not over the edge.

As soon as she was writhing and begging him to complete her, he reared up, covered her body and slid home into her well lubricated and loosened vagina. She cried out at his invasion, his huge organ opening her up like no one had before.

"Ohhh, you are soo hot and tight!" He hissed with pleasure at the feel of her tight channel gripping him tight.

'Oh my God! He's incredible!' She thought deliriously. To increase the intensity of what she was experiencing, Callie raised her legs and wrapped them tightly around his broad waist, deepening his thrusts so that he reached the end of her womb.

Ulysses groaned with excitement as he thrust firmly into her welcoming heat. Nothing he'd experienced before had ever felt like this. Perhaps it was because she truly wanted him and he wanted her that made this such a fantastic ride.

He leaned down and kissed her roughly. She welcomed it with a wildness of her own as she nipped his chin and bottom lip, drawing blood.

Rumbling deeply in his chest, eyes afire with heat and need, Ulysses picked up the pace and pushed them toward a fiery finish. He felt his cock swell even more, tingles of fire raced up his body as the end came near.

Callie's body tingled with mini orgasms as he continued to pound into her. It was hard but she managed to keep her eyes opened to watch his expression which was growing wilder as he got closer to the end then suddenly she saw his antenna glow and his eyes go all red before a burst of energy roared through her with a pleasure beyond her wildest dreams as the two of them orgasmed together in a pure wave of intense erotic fire.

It wasn't until she was blinking at the ceiling in confusion that she realized that she had fainted after that incredible orgasm. His weight was heavy on her body but she didn't mind. She could feel and hear him panting as he rested trying to regain his strength.

Moments later, he groaned a bit then rolled off her body but wrapped an arm around her to take her with him until they lay face to face on their sides. His eyes were once more a red-edged gold and his face was relaxed, a look of languid pleasure spread across it.

She smiled at him, feeling that same languid sensation from their joining. A stray thought crossed her mind at that moment, though, and brought a chuckle of amusement to her lips.

"What's soo funny?" He asked lazily as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"Oh, I was just thinking how I was the one to get what your Queen crossed a whole galaxy to get. If she knew an alien had stolen you from her, she'd probably be spitting mad right now." Callie smirked.

He laughed. "Oh yeah, she would probably shoot your head off or toast you where you stood. Good thing she's long gone and I'm very glad," he rumbled happily as he gave her a warm kiss.

They lay there for some time giving each other gentle caresses and kisses as they relaxed, waiting for their bodies to recharge.

She frowned as she remembered what she had seen there at the last minute before her world exploded.

"Ulysses?"

"Hmm?"

"What happened there at the end? Your antenna glowed as did your eyes then I felt this tremendous surge of something that gave me the strongest orgasm I've ever had in my life." She asked.

He chuckled. "That was the surprise I promised. My antenna draws energy from my body in a burst that makes sex intense enough to cause our females to ovulate and allows fertilization. I learned in my encounters with she-kats after my arrival how your species responds really well to it though it doesn't affect your fertilization......at least I haven't heard it did," he explained.

"Wow! That's incredible. Is there any other uses for that besides breeding?" She asked curiously.

"Well, it can be used as an incentive to make a prisoner talk by giving them an unpleasant shock. A higher dosage can disable an enemy," he said.

She blinked in surprise. "That means you could have taken out Hard Drive yourself if you weren't hiding, doesn't it?"

It was Ulysses' turn to look surprised. "Well, yes, I suppose so......" Then a look of evil intent glinted in his eyes. "It also means I can take out all the omegas without the SWAT Kats interference. Though they could help by distracting the omegas so I can jump them by surprise. Now that's a great idea," he said excitedly. He gave her a hard hug. "Thank you! The next time those cruds appear the SWAT Kats and I are going to put a permanent halt to their rampages once and for all." Anticipation shimmering in his eyes.

She looked at him with new eyes. "You would be willing to work with the SWAT Kats?"

"Hell yes! The omegas want a piece of them so they make excellent bait!" He said wickedly.

She smacked his chest in annoyance. "Oh you! That's not nice!"

"What?" He said innocently. "They want those cruds defeated once and for all too so why not allow them to do so?"

All Callie could do was shake her head. Toms! She'd never understand them, even one who was an alien.

He chuckled lightly and began to kiss her annoyance away. Very soon they were rolling around on the bed once more. For the next couple of hours they played.

It was around midnight when they woke from a short nap. Ulysses woke first, getting up to move from their warm nest. Callie groaned but didn't waken as he got up and left the room for the kitchen.

He returned some fifteen minutes later laden with a tray filled with some interesting things. He set it on the night stand next to the bed then sat down and leaned over to kiss Callie awake.

"Wake up, beautiful. I have a surprise for you," he purred in her ear.

She groaned, blinked her eyes open and noted the time on the clock in front of her nose. "Ohh, its after midnight. What are you doing up?" She complained a little as she rolled over to look at him questioningly.

"Sit up and I'll show you," he smirked.

Sighing she shoved the bedding down and sat up. Her eyebrows went up when he brought the tray over to sit between them.

On it were two glasses of wine with a strawberry floating in each. There were two small dishes filled with ice cream smothered in chocolate, cherries, nuts, strawberries and whipped cream.

"Oh wow! This looks yummy!" She cooed in pleased surprise.

He grinned as he took up a spoon and scooped up some whip cream with a strawberry from her dish and raised it to her mouth. "Glad you like it!"

She eyed him with pleasure as she opened her mouth to accept the filled spoon. A bit of whip cream caught her upper lip and before she could lick it off he leaned forward to do it for her. She shivered with renewed heat at the erotic moment.

'Oh he is soo wonderful. This is a night I'm never going to forget,' she sighed to herself as she enjoyed feeding him as he fed her.


	11. Chapter 11

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 11: Back to Work

The next morning there was an extra spring in Feral's step as he nearly bounded up the stairs and through the doors of Enforcer Headquarters the next morning. He should have been dragging his feet with exhaustion from getting very little sleep but the all night sexual congress with Callie had invigorated him as well as giving his heart a much needed lift.

Life would be much easier to take living in exile now that he had someone special to share it with. If he was careful it could turn into something more permanent.

With his mind much easier and free, he was able to focus on his work with a happy grace he'd never possessed before now. He spent the morning going through the night's reports and attending various meetings. It wasn't until early afternoon that things got exciting.

Callie stretched languidly as she got out of bed to headed for the shower. Ulysses had kissed her goodbye as he left to go back to his apartment to ready himself for work a couple of hours earlier. She missed his warm weight against hers which caused her to waken earlier than she normally would.

A smile hovered on her lips as she stepped into the hot shower and washed. It had been the most gloriously spent night of her life. After they had finished the rich dessert he'd made for them, Ulysses took the strawberry from his wine and held it between his teeth. She knew immediately what he wanted and clamped her teeth on the end of the berry pointed at her and began eating it as he did from his end until they met in a delicious kiss.

They repeated the action with the second berry while taking sips of wine in between. By the time the wine and fruit was gone they were fiery hot for each other again. The results were just as spectacular as all the times before it.

She was pleasantly sore and invigorated this morning. She actually didn't dread the work waiting for her, on the contrary, she was anxious to get started so the day would pass quickly. If nothing interfered, she and Ulysses would be going out to dinner tonight. She could hardly wait!

As she drove to work, her mind drifted over the evening before and her body shivered happily with the memory. Poor Ulysses, all those years denied someone who truly wanted and cared about him......it couldn't have been easy and explained his remote and moody behavior as he conducted his duty. Well, if she had any say in it, he wouldn't suffer any longer. She saw a long relationship ahead for the two of them.

Mayor Manx was a little confused by his Deputy Mayor's buoyant behavior this morning as he gave her a stack of work he wanted done. She merely smiled at him sunnily and took the papers from him and got to work without a complaint.

Shaking his head, he went back to his office to make some calls one of which was for an appointment to tee off at noon.

The morning went along smoothly until sometime after lunch.

At the salvage yard, Chance was putting the finishing touches to a car he'd done a tune up on. He wrote up the billing slip and put it on the desk then went to get something to drink. Jake was tinkering in his workshop as there was no other work in the garage for him to do.

Grabbing another milk for his buddy, Chance went down the ladder and walked up to Jake's work area and watched him for some minutes. His partner was always inventing things. Today it appeared he was, yet again, making modifications to their glovatrixs. The tabby just shook his head and offered the drink to his friend.

Jake jerked his head up in surprise then smiled, "Thanks buddy, I was just thinking of getting me something to drink."

"You're welcome. So what are you doing to our glovatrixs?"

"Oh, just making the shield a bit bigger and stronger as well as improve our sensor web for better detection accuracy," Jake said in an offhand manner.

Chance could only roll his eyes but made no comment. His friends improvements nearly always meant improving their chances at surviving their encounters with the omegas. Speaking of which.....

"What are you going to do if Feral manages to eliminate those bastards finally?" He asked, the thought having been on his mind ever since their discovering Feral was an alien with formidable powers.

Jake paused and studied his partner. Chance's face was serious so the question wasn't an idle one. He frowned for some minutes as he mulled over the subject.

"Well......" he began slowly, "if he's good enough to really take out even Dark Kat then I can finally develop some really cool inventions and perhaps sell them as Razor on the open market. I just know I could make enough money to get us out from under our debt and not have to run a garage any longer. What about you?"

Chance blinked at his friend in shocked surprise. "Wow! Jake, that's an incredibly great idea. I know your weapons could sell for top dollar out there. It would be so great to not have that debt continue to hang over us. As for me, I wouldn't mind being able to fly more often and take it easy for a bit, maybe even court some she-kats. We never seem to have any time for socializing," he said thoughtfully.

"Good idea, buddy. You're right, we just might be able to have some kind of a regular life though I don't want to give up being a SWAT Kat."

"Me either, its too much fun!"

Jake grinned at him and agreed, it was fun and thrilling. No way did he want to give that up yet.

Suddenly, their enforcer radio went off interrupting their peaceful moment. They froze and listened carefully to the dispatcher.

"_Attention all units! Explosions have been reported at Gem Kat Labs. All units respond!" _

Chance looked at Jake in confusion, "Gem Kat Labs? What the heck would anyone want from there?"

"Don't know but we better go and find out!" Jake said shaking his head as he ran to his locker.

Still confused, Chance did the same and soon they were hopping aboard the Turbokat and T-Bone was taxiing it out of their hangar.

Gem Kat Labs was located in the desert southeast of the city and it didn't take the SWAT Kats long to arrive nor the enforcers who were already buzzing around trying to find out what was going on. At least four choppers had landed.

T-Bone swooped in and took his jet down to a cleared area, blowing sand everywhere as he made a smooth landing. The pair jumped out of the cockpit and raced for the small labs front entrance and ran into Feral with a squad of enforcers trying to take out the Metallikats.

"Crud! Not those two!" T-Bone growled in disgust.

Feral heard him and turned his head quickly. "You two! Engage them so that I can get around them!" He ordered.

They blinked behind their masks in shock.

"Wha.......Razor did he just tell us to go after the Metallikats?"The tabby said in amazement as he shot off an electro shock missile at Molly as she fired at a wall to make an escape route.

"Yeah! You did and he also said he was circling around to get them. Don't know what his arsenal is but we and these metal heads are going to find out," Razor said grimly as he tarpedoed Mac's face which he knew wouldn't hold the robot more than a second but made a good distraction.

"Gah! You irritating fleas!" Mac bellowed as he fired off his cannon without being able to see what he was aiming at. He ended up bringing down some of the ceiling on himself and a few enforcers.

"Watch what you're doing you idiot!" Molly shouted at her mate while firing at the enforcers to keep them at bay so they could slip through the hole she had made.

Each robot had a bag of something, probably gems, attached to their waists.

The Metallikats were so focused on their attackers and getting out that they never saw Feral who had gone back out the front door, altered his shape on the run and arrived at the hole Molly had made.

As Molly rocketed out the hole, Feral was there to greet her with a bolt of energy so strong that he blew her halfway across the desert. He had made sure to clip her just right so as not to send her back through the building, hurting any of his officers or innocent bystanders.

Seconds later, Mac followed Molly flying ungainly through the air as Feral's blow struck him in the chest. The huge alien warrior raced to catch up to the criminals to finish them off.

The SWAT Kats and the rest of the uninjured enforcers poured through the hole then stood gaping at the sight of the huge alien running across the sand toward the robots who were just getting to their feet.

Not certain what they were seeing, the pair of robots fired at the on coming juggernaut. Feral agilely dodged their weapons fire and, without halting, he fired his own brand of weapon back at them blowing them skyward some hundred feet in the air. When they hit the ground their bodies exploded from the force, leaving only their heads barely functioning.

Feral walked up to the mangled bodies and looked down, his huge paws on his hips.

Mac's voice box was damaged so it squeaked when he said, "Who and what the hell are you?"

"Yeah, you looked sort of like that fool Feral but bigger and weirder," Molly said in shocked confusion.

Feral gave them a frightening grin. "As a matter of fact, I am Feral. But what you two metal heads don't know is I'm an alien who no longer has to hide that fact, not that this information will do you any good since you're never going to bother this city ever again." He said grimly, raising his paws.

"Wait!" Mac shrieked

"No!" Molly yelled at the same time.

Feral ignored them and shot a blast of energy at them, permanently shorting out their memory disks. Though it broke Megakat City law to take matters into his own paws, in this instance he felt no guilt in handing out judgement. No one who had witnessed what he'd done were going to say anything about it and, fortunately, the news crew were only just arriving on scene and hadn't witnessed his execution of the Metallikats.

Moments later, the SWAT Kats walked up to him and looked down at the defunct pair.

"Out for good?" T-Bone asked blandly.

"Yes!" Feral said flatly.

"Good!"

"Great job, Commander. You are a force to be reckoned with." Razor said in admiration.

Feral gave them a toothy grin, his huge fangs showing very clearly. "And you two follow orders very well, when you want to," he snorted in amusement.

"Yeah, well this time your orders made excellent sense," T-Bone agreed reluctantly. He couldn't deny Feral had done a fantastic job getting rid of these two and he wasn't about to complain. "We'll see you for the next omega showdown! Looks like we will finally win our city back."

Feral nodded.

The two took their leave of the Commander who altered back into his Kat form and bellowed orders to get the place cleaned up. His own enforcers were impressed and pleased by their commander's action so none voiced an objection as they quickly obeyed his orders.

As they boarded their jet and T-Bone took it into the air, he couldn't help but say to his partner, "Looks like you might get to do just inventing really soon, Razor if Feral keeps up that kind of 'take no prisoner' attitude."

"Yeah, but I hope he's super careful not to run afoul of someone with an axe to grind. They could blow the whistle on him and ruin his career. He is technically breaking the law by executing the Metallikats the way he did," Razor commented, thoughtfully.

"Are you objecting to the way he's doing it?"

"No, just don't want to see him lose his job taking care of the omegas in a permanent way. It's obvious he's going to be great for keeping the city safe for years to come and I, personally, don't mind seeing him do that. Those omegas have already used up their many chances to straighten up and fly right. They don't deserve any more breaks," Razor said flatly.

"I agree with you one hundred percent, buddy," T-Bone said, grim amusement lacing his voice. It was an interesting thing to hear his friend voice such bloodthirsty feelings but he felt the same way. The omegas had far outworn their welcome......they had to go!


	12. Chapter 12

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 12: Omega Hunting - Step 1

Now that Feral had declared war on the omegas, the only problem was finding them. He was flat tired of waiting for the enemy to come out of hiding before being able to deal with them. After his successful defeat of the Metallikats, a few days later he called in his black ops teams

As they took their seats at his conference table, he eyed them thoughtfully. When all had arrived and sat down, Sgt Fallon locked the door. Only then did Feral drop his Kat form. There was a shocked silence. Many of those in the room had only seen this alien form briefly on the TV during his first appearance. Only a couple had seen him in person.

There was no doubt they felt a bit intimidated by the huge powerful figure. Feral said nothing for several minutes, allowing his officers to study him thoroughly.

"The purpose of my taking my true shape for this meeting is to explain what I plan to do and what your part in it will be," Feral began. "We are going to go on the offensive in the war against the omegas. No more of this waiting for them to attack."

That statement was met, first by surprised expressions followed immediately by nods and sounds of pleased excitement, his new appearance forgotten for the anticipation of winning against the omegas at last.

Feral gave them a grin that showed off his formidable fangs to good effect. "I'm pleased you all like that idea. Now what I need you all to do is scour this city from top to bottom. Send out all your undercover agents and ferret out any hint of an omega sighting. No clue is too small. You will report whatever you find out every day to my office directly. Do not distribute this information to anyone. You must retain a copy of your report so efforts aren't duplicated but under no circumstances must what we are doing get out to the general enforcer population. The less they know the better."

There was a moment of stunned shock. A hand shot up, the officer concerned by what he'd heard. "Sir, we may have to question beat cops and other officers to find the information you seek," he objected.

"Colonel Thane, the only thing you are authorized to ask is information on omega sightings. This is not unusual and should not cause any untoward suspicion. We've done this many times when the Mayor wanted a special push made against the super criminals. What you won't do is satisfy anyone's curiosity. This is under strictest security measures. Though I don't think we have a mole within our command, we can't dismiss the suspicion that we do," Feral said firmly.

Heads nodded in agreement, what their superior said was certainly true. Eyeing them each in turn, Feral prepared to make a pronouncement he knew they weren't going to like. His only concern was....would they revolt against accepting the necessity of what he was planning to do.

Watching them closely, he said in a cold, determined tone, "I intend for us to win this war this time and the reason is me. I no longer have to hide who or what I am and what I am is much more powerful than any of the omegas. But I'm not omnipotent and must find my targets the old fashioned way. However, believe me when I say, once you find them for me, I **will** take care of them."

Dead silence greeted him and many an eyebrow raised in shock. No one missed the meaning of Feral's words. But what he intended was in direct violation of the laws governing their people.

Trial by jury was what made them better than the dictator run countries. It was one of their most important laws. However, at the same time, none could deny the omegas were much more dangerous than the more ordinary criminals arrested. Too often they never even made it to court in the first place. And those that did get that far, escaped from prison almost as soon as they arrived.

What their Commander was asking them to do was to keep their mouths shut and pretend it wasn't an execution but an 'accident' that the omegas never lived to make it to trial. By telling them this up front, he was asking if they were willing to accept their Commander intended to do something illegal and they would be required to hush it up?

"If any of you cannot in good conscious go along with my plan then you may absent yourself with no punitive action against you. I only want those who desire an end to the constant warfare by bending the law a little to be part of this mission. Those who choose to leave will be expected to keep their mouths shut and forget it happened at all. Does anyone wish to leave?" Feral asked abruptly, as if he had read their minds.

Silence greeted him as everyone around the table digested what they were being asked to do. After what seemed a long time, every face took on a look of grim determination and resolve. No one left the room and all showed their willingness to follow their Commander by giving him their undivided attention and waiting for his next order.

Feral gave a sharp nod of his head showing his acceptance of their decision, mentally very pleased by his troops' loyalty to their city and himself despite not being a Kat like them. That more than anything warmed his heart.

"Alright, you have your orders. If I'm not available to take your reports then give them to Sgt Fallon and no one else. Any question?" Stone silence. "Dismissed!" Feral barked.

Without further words or hesitation, they gathered their notes and quickly departed. They had their work cut out for them.

After his ops personnel had left, Feral went back to his office and stared out his wall of glass. He hated waiting but there was nothing else he could do until his enemies either showed on their own or his special teams found them. Fortunately, he had tons of work to do so he wouldn't be bored.

Over the next few weeks, bits and pieces of information trickled in. None of it, however, formed much of a picture as to the omegas location.

Finally, the least of the omegas snuck in an appearance. Rather than make a big noise as was his wont, Hard Drive apparently intended on make a quick snatch and grab then disappearing again. It made one wonder if he was testing the waters for the bigger fish.

That concerned Feral. As badly as he wanted to eliminate them all, if he went after Hard Drive and took him out, the more dangerous omegas could conceivably band together or lay low for months. Neither option was appealing.

He finally decided to err on the side of caution and appeared as he was normally seen with his troops and chased Hard Drive around the small computer facility that had a government contract. The SWAT Kats arrived to see what was going on after hearing the alarm on the enforcer band.

"Wonder why Feral hasn't taken that idiot out already?" T-Bone growled as he avoided a bolt of energy thrown at him by Hard Drive.

Razor's eyes narrowed as he watched their enemy's movements closely on an energy meter he was holding, he didn't respond to his partner's question. Seconds later, he fired a specialty missile he'd developed, the moment Hard Drive dove into a nearby junction box. It struck the line he'd detected Hard Drive's presence and trapped him in a small capture box the missile had slapped the line with. The small box was open on both sides and those two sides possessed sharp blades that cut the line then slammed the two sides down, closing their enemy within it.

"Bingo!" Razor bellowed.

"Way to go, buddy. Great catch!" T-Bone said in satisfaction moving to stand next to the capture box. "Is it safe to pull from the wall?"

"Yeah, its insulated," Razor assured him.

Feral and his officers came to their side and eyed the box T-Bone handed over to him. Feral studied the simple but effective device.

"Good work," he grunted handing the box off to a nearby officer. "Lock this creep up in his specially insulated cell before opening this. Uh, how do we release him?" He paused looking over at Razor questioningly.

"The button on the top. I recommend using a stick outside the cell to do that though, since Hard Drive had enough energy stored to cause trouble until it runs down," Razor warned him.

"Gotcha," he nodded and turned to the officer who indicated he'd understood the directions. He took the box and left quickly. Feral walked out with the SWAT Kats. He waited until none of his officers were near before speaking with them.

"I know you're wondering why I simply didn't take Hard Drive out myself," he suddenly said, startling them.

They could only nod and eye him in puzzlement.

"I have a bad feeling the bigger fish are using this creep to make a test run....seeing if we have some new weapon. I don't want to tip my paw too early so decided to take him in the usual way," he explained grimly.

Razor pursed his lips and nodded. "You may be right about that. It never occurred to me but it would be poor strategy of us to think the omegas didn't hear about the Metallikats demise and suspect you. So what do you plan on doing?"

"I sent my black ops out to ferret out any information on the whereabouts of the omegas. So far they've managed to bury themselves out of sight very well. My people haven't gotten a sniff of them. This run by Hard Drive is the first time any of them has shown their faces," he grumbled unhappily.

T-Bone nodded his head. "Good plan. Razor and I will do some snooping ourselves. They gotta show themselves sooner or later. However, as badly as we want them out of the way, I'm not too unhappy about the break we're getting right now," he admitted candidly.

"True, this is the longest the city has had some peace so I won't begrudge it either. But keep your eyes and ears open, it certainly won't last," Feral said as he moved off to his chopper.

"Roger that!" T-Bone said to his back. The two reached the Turbokat and leaped aboard. In minutes the pilot had them airborne. "Seems weird to be working with Feral."

"Yeah, but it beats always having to avoid him," Razor snorted in amusement.

"There's that alright," T-Bone grunted as he flew them home.

Someone was paying attention alright because the next criminal to show up was totally unexpected. This time someone they'd not seen in a long time appeared causing chaos with his souped up chopper. How he'd gotten his paws on it again was anyone's guess but Chop Shop was making a strafing run through the heart of town causing as much damage as he could. It didn't help that he'd chosen the height of quitting time to make his move.

The SWAT Kats trick from before didn't work this time and they were taking an unexpected beating because of it. They did, however, manage to force the crook to move out of mid town and over the warehouse district.

This was when Feral made his move. Having his choppers circle around to box the criminal in, willing to lose several of them in the process so that he could do what he needed to in ending this quickly, he maneuvered behind Chop Shop while the criminal was distracted by the SWAT Kats and the buzzing of the enforcer choppers around him. Feral was flying himself with no one aboard to witness what he was about to do.

When he got close enough, he generated a huge amount energy then shot his paw out his small window and fired the stored energy point blank at the chopper's tail rotor. The mega armor that made the chopper so hard to take out stood no chance against Feral's alien energy. The tail rotor sheared completely off leaving the super chopper spiraling out of control to land hard on the ground.

Witnessing it, T-Bone whistled. "Wow, his energy is more powerful than anything we've got buddy," he said admiringly.

"You aren't kidding! Glad he's on our side!" Razor remarked as they watched Feral's troops collect the shaken criminal. "Well that's one more out of the way but he's certainly not one we expected to see at all."

"Still testing us, it looks like!" T-Bone said grimly.

"Oh yeah. So I wonder who else is going to crawl out of the woodwork?" Razor said angrily. "You know buddy, I'm beginning to suspect Dark Kat's paw in this."

T-Bone grimaced as he turned the jet and sent it flying home. "Unfortunately, I think you're right buddy."

It was more than two weeks later before they received a serious scare. Despite his powers, Feral was still no match for magic so it was with unhappy trepidation he learned Lenny Ringtail had managed to escape the insane asylum. On his own, Ringtail wasn't much of a threat but when they learned Mad Kat's box was missing as well.....that was cause for true alarm.

Privately, Feral wished he had given that fool box back to its caretaker. The old Kat seemed to have known a great deal about it and he had a suspicion Katzmer was more than he seemed and would have kept the box under much safer control than the enforcers obviously had. Well that was split milk now and there was nothing he could do about it at the moment but afterward......well he'd just have to see.

Right now though, he had a demon possessed box out there somewhere and a lunatic that had been its host once. He had his black ops and regular troops out in force then in a private call to the SWAT Kats via a comm unit Razor had given him after the last incident involving Chop Shop.

"Feral here!"

"T-Bone! What's up now, Feral?" The gruff voice of the pilot asked.

"I think you've heard Ringtail is on the loose but not that Mad Kat's box is missing," Feral said grimly.

"Shit!"

"Yeah, my sentiments exactly. I don't have to tell you how important it is to find either one before they turn up together."

"No, you don't. We'll keep our eyes peeled and do some rousting of our own with the contacts we have. Get back to you when we've got something," T-Bone growled then cut the connection.

Feral had no doubt the pair would do what they could but perhaps he should do some night undercover work himself. His other form possessed much more acute senses and those just might tip the balance in their favor.

Watching a flat screen TV from the comfort of his large cushioned chair, a huge figure rested his head on his paw as he listened to the news reporter. A pleased expression crossed his face as he saw the image of Ringtail being flashed on the screen.

"Excellent! Now we'll see how Feral and those miserable SWAT Kats do with this emergency," he rumbled.


	13. Chapter 13

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 13: Omega Hunting - A New Complication

He waited until darkness had fallen completely before going out in his normal form. He stayed in the shadows, never letting the lights of the city fall on him as he cruised the places that criminals were known to hang out.

After hours of flying around old abandoned factories, seedy neighborhoods rousting criminals during their acts of villainy, and cruising the wharves, he finally called it a night. He was aggravated and disgusted as he took his Kat form and stepped into a hot shower some time later.

The next morning he worked through piles of information collected by his teams but nothing came together to tell him what he wanted to know. He was becoming discouraged. Collecting the reports, he stuck them in a folder and locked them in his desk.

He checked his watch and noted the time as nearly eleven. Leaving his desk, he pulled his coat on, locked his office and told his secretary he would be out for about an hour and could be reached on his cell.

Driving to a quiet area of town where quaint shops carrying specialty items were located, Feral parked before one of them and climbed out. He looked around carefully then took a tour around the entire building before going back to the entrance once more and going in.

The small bell above the door tingled lightly when he entered and looked around the shop. It was filled with all matter of oddities and antiques. Moving to the counter near the center of the shop and against the right side wall, he waited for someone to check out who was in the store.

Moments later a very short, elderly Kat came out of the back area and moved to the counter. His face frowned when he saw who was visiting his shop.

"What can I do for you Commander?" He asked unhappily.

"I can tell, you are guessing it is bad news and I'm afraid you'd be right. Mad Kat's Jack-in-the-box has been stolen and to make things even worse, its former host, Ringtail has escaped from the asylum," Feral told the proprietor bluntly.

Katzmer grimaced. "Ah so, if you had only returned the box to me, this might not be the problem that it is now."

"I quite agree. Unfortunately, I was over ruled and so, here we are."

"Yes, so we are and what do you wish me to do about this problem?" Katzmer asked flatly.

"Though I have my own natural powers, magic is not one of them and I'm much afraid, I will be just as helpless before it as any Kat of this world," Feral said. "What I hope to do is get as much information as I can about Mad Kat from you and see if I can use the fact I'm not from your world to stop the demon from joining with his host again."

Katzmer's eyes widened. "So it is true! You are an alien. May I see your true appearance, Commander?"

"Why?"

"I have a suspicion your true form might answer. Please indulge me."

Frowning, Feral eyed the old Kat a moment longer before granting his request. Seconds later his true form nearly overwhelmed the little shop. He had to stand still and keep his wings tight against his body or cause the destruction of numerous things on shelves very close to him.

"Amazing!" Katzmer said, gaping in stunned surprise. Shaking himself, he nodded excitedly. "Thank you! You may return to your Kat form."

Feral did so immediately. "You act as if you've seen something such as I before but that's impossible."

"Perhaps not, sir. Mad Kat is a demon and looks remarkably like you!" Katzmer said, moving to a back section of his store where there were many old books. He pulled one from the shelf and searched it for a moment before halting. "Yes! I was correct.......see here Commander," he said turning the book so Feral could see the image displayed.

There in old style illumination was a picture of a creature who looked remarkably like himself....as a matter of fact.....no it can't be! Feral took the book so he could look at it more closely.

"Damn, this is someone from my world! I'd almost swear to it! How the hell did he end up here?" Feral asked himself more than Katzmer.

"So it isn't just a likeness then?" The old Kat asked in surprise.

"No!" Feral said, grimly, closing the book and handing it back to Katzmer. "That means something happened to this Frendorian when he came here that altered him in some way. Perhaps he ran afoul of a sorcerer who did this to him. Whatever the reason, he just might welcome a fellow alien if he's not gone completely insane. Now the only problem is locating the box holding him trapped."

"If you are from the same world, do you have a way of sensing each other's presence?" Katzmer suggested.

Feral blinked at that question. "Not really. If we had, I would have realized what he was the first time he appeared but he didn't look Frendorian but Kat in appearance and used magic so I didn't know he wasn't a Kat at all."

"Hmm, all I can tell you Commander is what the text said about him. Apparently, he appeared around the dark ages. It was suggested he might be a disgraced Jester who was humiliated and sent away by the King, his right hand knight, and the Queen. The story goes, he returned to wreck vengeance for his treatment. Perhaps your suspicion that he ran afoul of some dark wizard has merit. It would explain much," Katzmer said thoughtfully.

"For him to have lived that long, it had to be some form of magic that's for certain. We're long lived but not that long," Feral snorted. "Well you've certainly given me a surprise but it doesn't find us the box," he said unhappily. "Keep your ears open and be watchful, Katzmer. Ringtail is out there somewhere and he might come looking for you," he warned the store owner. "Thanks for your help."

"You're most welcome, Commander. I'll keep alert and I'll look into Mad Kat's history more and see if I find out anything that might be of further help to you," Katzmer promised.

"Good idea and thanks. I'll be in contact," Feral said then left the shop. Once in his vehicle, he headed back to Enforcer Headquarters, his mind still reeling at the thought another of his kind had been exiled or lost here such a very long time ago. 'Things just keep getting more complicated all the time,' he sighed mentally.


	14. Chapter 14

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

**Chapter 14: Omega Hunting - A Mad Kat-In-A-Box**

Despite the frantic effort of Feral, his black ops and the SWAT Kats, Ringtail managed to link up with the demon box. Razor was more than a little certain that Dark Kat had engineered the link up in the first place. Whether he was right or not hardly mattered...what did matter was Mad Kat was on the loose again.

His mission still the same as before but instead of being up front and visible, Mad Kat chose to do his kidnaping more sneakily. It actually took twelve hours for anyone to realize Manx was gone. Then in quick succession, David Litterbin was snatched after a Friday night live show. Again, no one knew he was missing until late Sunday morning.

Callie was scared witless this time out. The way Mad Kat was picking them up without anyone being aware until too late, sent shivers up her spine. Since he was magical, there really wasn't anywhere she could hide from him unless she went where he would never guess she'd be.

She fled to Feral's office immediately after she'd learned the Mayor had been taken. On the drive over to Enforcer Headquarters, the radio announced the snatching of Litterbin. Horrified, she pressed on the accelerator to get to her destination faster before she was snatched as well.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

It was a very frightened Deputy Mayor who dashed past Feral's secretary and into the dark tom's arms the moment she burst into his office.

He had been on his way out the door when he found himself with an armful of shaking she-kat.

"Shuu...Callie...you're safe with me," he soothed, rubbing her back and nuzzling her face to comfort her. "I was just leaving to get you. You shouldn't have taken the risk to leave your office but I'm glad you made it safely. Now I will take you to my apartment where you'll be safe until I catch this guy," Feral said grimly while hugging her close.

"But...but you've no magical powers. You're powerful, yes, but you've already told me you have no defense against magic just like the rest of us!" She objected, pulling her head back to stare into his golden eyes, fear for him reflected in her own green ones.

"You're right about that, however, during some research of mine, I learned Mad Kat is not from your world at all, but mine," He told her.

Callie's widened in shock as she absorbed the news, "You've got to be kidding me?"

"Nope, I'm positive he's a Frendorian. I don't know how he got here, but Mr. Katzmer, who originally possessed the box, said the history books put Mad Kat appearing sometime during the dark ages. He and I surmise he might have run afoul of a dark wizard who trapped him in the box. Right now we just don't know unless I can get him to talk to me," he explained.

"Will he listen though? He seemed not a little insane last time we encountered him," Callie asked, doubtfully.

Feral grimaced, "That might be Ringtail's influence or because of his long incarceration...hard to tell, but I won't know until I can corner him first then try to get him to listen to me. I'm hoping my true appearance will shock him."

"It's possible but, please be careful," she said worriedly, burying her face in his massive chest and hugging him tighter.

"I will, try not to worry. Don't forget, I defeated my Queen and her whole regiment. Though he possesses magic, if I'm canny enough, I'll take him out too," he assured her. "Now let's get you to my place." He hustled her out of his office, paused to tell his secretary he would be on his radio then whisked Callie away.

Because Mad Kat knew his and Callie's cars well, he decided to take a copter instead. On their way to the flight line, he called his pilot to ready his transport and by the time they got to the air strip, the jet copter was warming up. Within minutes they were soaring over the city. Landing on the roof of an apartment building, the pilot let his Commander and the Deputy Mayor off then waited to take Feral back.

Taking her by the hand, Feral hurried her across the roof and down the stairwell right to his floor at the top of the building and to his apartment which was near the roof entrance. Once in his quarters, he gave her a quick tour then paused in the living room to give her further instructions.

"Don't leave here and don't use the phone for any reason. We have to make sure no one but me and my pilot know where you are. If things work out, we'll have Mad Kat in custody before the day is over. He shouldn't be able to find you here since he isn't aware we're close. Now with you hidden, he'll go for me instead and that's what I'm counting on," he told her.

"Just be careful, that's all I ask and I pray he listens to you," Callie said worriedly as she saw him off.

"So do I," he said, grimly, then gave her a quick kiss before going out the door, locking it behind him.

Now that he had her as safe as he could make her, all he had to do was make himself very visible so Mad Kat wouldn't waste time searching the city for him. Here's hoping that fool will take the bait, he muttered to himself as he went up to the roof and climbed aboard the copter, signaling the pilot to head back to headquarters. As they flew across the city once more another thought struck him but he didn't pursue it until he was back in his office again.

It was with extreme impatience that he waited until the wheels of the helicopter set down then leaped out despite the still whirling blades. He simply ducked down and raced for the hangar. Once safely behind the door of his office, he took off his coat and fished a small comm unit from his pocked, thumbing it on.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

At a garage across the city an alarm rang out. A dirty paw reached out for the special phone that was connected to the comm units, hit one of the two buttons and growled into the receiver.

"Yeah, Feral, what's up?" The brawny tabby demanded.

"Listen, I need you two to get airborne. Make sure you have enough fuel and weapons on board and head for Enforcer Headquarters. I want you to stay high enough above the building you won't be noticed but low enough you can see what's going on. I'm going to draw Mad Kat out into the open, if I can, by being as visible as possible. I'm going to insure I'm near the windows of my office or on the flight line as frequently as I can be," Feral briefed him swiftly.

Frowning, Chance asked, "But what about Ms. Briggs? She's a target too."

"I've already hidden her. He won't guess where she is so he should come looking for me since I'm next on his list. Here's something you don't know, Mad Kat is from my world."

"What?!" Chance shared a shocked look with his partner who was standing next to him, listening.

"It seems he came here sometime in the dark ages. I don't know how or why nor do I know how he became magical except that he might have run afoul of a dark wizard. Anyway, I mean to try and get close enough to him to speak to him in my true form. You guys will be the distraction I'll need to get that close before he can use his magic on me," he explained.

"Sounds like a dangerous plan but it might work. Don't forget that creep can make us disappear too and there goes your distraction," Chance reminded him.

"Believe me, I know that only too well. I'm in my office now so you better get moving ... Feral out!"

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Chance hung up the receiver. "That's a dangerous plan he has in mind but it should work, let's head out, buddy! We're going to play tag with Mad Kat."

"Roger that!" Jake responded already hurrying to temporarily close their shop then run to the secret entrance to their hangar. Chance was already ahead of him and pulling his coverall's off.

Jake was right behind him, finishing at nearly the same time. They hurriedly loaded extra ammunition and fuel to the jet before jumping aboard. T-Bone started the engines and both did their preflight as the turn table descended to the flight line below.

Razor couldn't help but shudder as he remembered how he had been taken by Mad Kat and put in that weird dimensional box. No way did he want that to happen again so he hoped Feral's plan worked.

Within moment's the Turbokat was racing across the sky for the twin towers of the Enforcer Building, keeping a very high altitude as they did so.

Reaching their destination, T-Bone put the jet on VTOL and they began their wait. "Okay, here we are," T-Bone rumbled as he stared down at their target. The sky was clear with only a few clouds which was fortunate as they could see Mad Kat easily when he showed up.

"Hope we don't have to hang around too long," Razor muttered, distractedly as he peered through his long distance viewer.

"Me too. I can't say I like how Mad Kat's changed tactics though it was a smart move," T-Bone said, thoughtfully. "With his big ego, I wouldn't have thought he'd cared about being discreet. After all, with his magic, he could just take everyone before we or the Enforcers could take out his bells. I wonder what made him more sneaky this time around?"

"Dark Kat," Razor said flatly. "I'm more certain than ever that creep is masterminding all this."

"Yeah, but Mad Kat wouldn't have listened to him," the tabby objected, frowning.

"No, but Ringtail would have and he's part of that personality. It's obvious he held some sway over Mad Kat's decision to be more cautious this time out," Razor asserted firmly.

"Uhmph...I think you may be right about that. What did you think about the fact he is one of Feral's people?" his partner asked.

"Shocked! I mean what are the odds that Mad Kat could be a Frendorian? But, I have to say this is the first good break we've gotten since with it being one of his own people, we can hope Mad Kat can be reined in and his threat stopped permanently," Razor said, hope in his voice.

"Unless he is totally insane and won't listen," T-Bone reminded him.

"There is that," Razor conceded before lapsing into silence.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Meanwhile, below them, Feral decided he might as well get some work done while they waited and dragged a stack of reports to him and dug in. He just hoped Mad Kat wouldn't keep them waiting all day. The Turbokat couldn't stay airborne that long. He didn't think his fellow Frendorian would wait longer than today as he seemed to have been very quick to pick up the Mayor and Litterbin.

He worked for many hours, knowing in the back of his mind, the SWAT Kats were probably getting really bored hovering over headquarters. It was moving on to nearly two o'clock and Feral was growing concerned because the Turbokat would need to be refueled very soon. Should he dare to tell them to refuel now and return as fast as they could?

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Above him, Razor was worrying about the same thing. "I wonder if we should contact, Feral. We have only another hour's worth of fuel left."

"Yeah, I was becoming concerned about that to. Perhaps you should..." T-Bone began to say before a sudden flash below them caught both their eyes. "Was that...?"

"I think so! Get ready buddy!"

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Feral had just stepped down from his platform desk and was crossing the floor with a pawful of reports he intended to take to his secretary when a flash of light, from just outside his windows, caught his attention. He dropped to the floor instantly, scattering his reports across the floor. A massive tentacle just missed him as it shattered the glass, spraying the pieces over his prone body as the tentacle groped for him.

Altering his shape instantly, Feral rolled out of the way and flew up to the ceiling, something Mad Kat wouldn't expect. The tentacle arm hesitated as if in surprise then suddenly pulled out as the commander heard explosions going off. The SWAT Kats were doing their job, now it was time for him to do his.

He quickly flew to the broken window and stared out cautiously. Mad Kat was shouting angrily at the SWAT Kats and firing his style of weapons back at the jet. Feral thought it strange the creep wasn't just vanishing the jet altogether. He wondered if Ringtail's mind had something to do with Mad Kat's behavior. No time to think about that, he needed to get close to the clown while he was preoccupied.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"Look out, T-Bone!"

"I know!" The pilot shouted, swinging the jet violently downward to avoid one of Mad Kat's unique but deadly toys.

"Feral better make his move soon! Don't know how long we can dodge this guy," Razor shouted worriedly as he fired another brace of plain old missiles at the jester.

They missed him and hit the end of the flight line. "Whoops! Damn it, Feral won't be happy about that," T-Bone commented as he yet again dodged another swipe at the jet, not quite getting completely free as the jet sustained a long rip down its side. "Crud!"

At that moment, a familiar form swept up behind Mad Kat who had made himself giant-sized to deal with the Turbokat. Feral moved to grasp the jester's neck and swung himself into the guy's face.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Mad Kat froze as his eyes beheld something strange. Rather than attack, he stared in confusion and dawning recognition at the strange flying creature staring into his eyes grimly.

"I'm a Frendorian, just like you!" It shouted at him.

The jester blinked in shock then disappeared with Feral.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"Aw Crud!" T-Bone shouted in dismay.

"It might not be as bad as we think, buddy...look down there on the flight line," Razor said excitedly.

T-Bone looked down and saw Mad Kat standing next to Feral below him. "Oh, well that looks promising. Should we go down?"

Razor frowned and thought about it a moment. "Yeah, perhaps we should. No telling if Feral will still need us."

T-Bone acknowledged by sending the jet toward the flight line. Moments later, they landed smoothly a fair distance from the pair standing near the damaged end of the deck.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Feral paid no heed to the SWAT Kats, his attention completely focused on the jester before him.

"How did you get here and how did this happen to you?" He asked.

"Well, how did you get here? We are soo far from home there was no way I even imagined anyone else coming here," Mad Kat demanded, his manner and voice losing the driven quality it had possessed for so long.

Feral grimaced and sourly retorted, "The Queen was displeased with me for reasons I still don't understand and had me banished into space close enough to this planet for me to land on it. I've been here for more than thirty years. But what about you?"

Mad Kat blinked in surprise then scowled as he too related his equally unhappy past, spatting out bitterly, "...Seems I'm not alone incurring a Queen's wrath. I too was banished but it was more than a hundred of this miserable planet's years ago."

"That might explain how my Queen even knew of this planet's existence...it had been used before as a dumping ground, though I've not found anyone else of our kind here," Feral mused thoughtfully.

"That's because they were killed!" Mad Kat said, furious, the memory of it still able to make him angry and bitter. "I was not the only one banished. There were over twenty of us sent here. We might have all survived and perhaps bred with Kats except for the arrogance and stupidity of several among the group. They thought with their more superior abilities, we'd be able to lord it over this species. It worked at first but sad to say, a few of our group treated Kats no better than animals so it's not surprising Kats became terrified and angry enough to turn on us. With exceptional cunning and using only their primitive weapons and traps, they killed everyone but me. I was smarter. Kept my mouth shut and divorced myself from the group early on. When I heard they were hunting us down and killing us, I sought sanctuary with one of their more barbaric Kings." He stopped to laugh bitterly at what a mistake that had been.

Feral's face reflected sorrow at the loss of his fellow Frendorians. Though they might have deserved what happened to them by the Kats, they hadn't deserved being dumped on a planet not their own in the first place.

"It had to have been a nightmare for all to endure being dropped on an alien planet and expected to survive somehow. It showed just how callous our queens had become. That doesn't excuse your fellow survivors behavior toward the indigenous population. However, I am sorry they are gone and you were left to fend for yourself. But I'm confused. How did you manage to survive this long? We are long-lived certainly but even we don't live to be over a hundred years," Feral asked.

Mad Kat gave a harsh laugh. "It is an evil tale. I quickly learned by seeking safety, I also gave up my freedom. To my everlasting sorrow and pain, I became but a pawn to keep his kingdom safe from his enemies. Enemies, I might add, he made by being a tyrant. He was a cruel and vicious leader and treated me like his slave. To remain alive, I was forced to agree to do his bidding and not use my powers against him or his minions. And when he finally tired of me, I was given to his dark wizard to play with." The jester shuddered at the remembered torture in that creature's paws. It had been far worse than what the King had done to him.

"Draconis was even more vicious than his master. He used his foul magic to prevent me from using my powers except at his bidding and to obey him in all things. And, to prevent me from escaping, he put me in that cursed box when I wasn't doing things for him." His eyes held volumes of just how horrifying that had been for him.

The SWAT Kats and Feral felt sick at the thought of anyone being trapped in a box for hours, weeks, months, or even years on end. It was a wonder the poor Frendorian hadn't gone completely insane.

"He it was that gave me these magical powers and a Kat form, binding my real one within. I was well and truly a slave. For years, I endured his treatment but I got the last laugh. The powers he gave me allowed me a long life which was a nightmare all its own, but though a wizard with a life longer than his brethren, he became lazy, arrogant, and overconfident so that one day he made the mistake of belittling a knight who promptly beheaded the fool." A cruel and triumphant smile flashed across his face briefly as he remembered that day of vindication.

But the next moment, his expression became grim as he continued his tale. "My relief at his death was tempered by the fact no one would touch my box nor enter Draconis' tower due to superstitious fear which consigned me to a hideous existence of being alone for years so to survive with my mind intact, I put myself into a deep sleep. It wasn't until the Dark Ages began to wane, that I was found and used by several wizards over a period of twenty years. When the last of my owners died, I was abandoned in the ruins of his home. Again I retreated into sleep. It was a trying time for me." He shuddered as he remembered those long lonely years.

"I was finally found by yet another wizard but he was unlike any I'd seen before and certainly didn't look like the natives at all. He had the ability to traverse time itself. To my horror, he took me back again to the around the middle of the Dark Ages and ordered me to try and capture or kill someone he hated a lot. Unfortunately for him, this wizard proved to be too powerful and I was defeated. Furious, my owner cast a spell over me that gave me a new task to do then buried my box. Now, not only was I back further in the past and had to relive it, but I was abandoned again. If I could have, I would have killed myself but I had only one choice...sleep."

The three listeners could only shake their head. Never in their lives had they heard a tale of such misery and woe. Sleep was definitely the guy's salvation.

"Over the next few years, I was found and used and found and used. Each time I was forced to obey the strange little wizard's last command, which made my new owners very angry because they couldn't alter the original spell. It didn't help that I never succeeded in the task before being defeated time after time. Finally, I was left alone for a long stretch of time. I had no idea how many years since I slept through them but when I woke next, it was when I ended up in that antique store and Ringtail was opening my box." He grimaced and gave them a woeful look.

"I'm truly sorry for all the harm I caused. I really couldn't help myself," he apologized.

"Don't worry about it. You've had a terrible time. But what the heck was the reason behind such a ridiculous order involving taking a Queen, King, Knight, and Jester you were given?" Feral asked, confused.

"I have a better question..." a gruff voice interjected from behind them.

The jester jerked around and stared at the colorful pair that he remembered attacking him. Before he could behave defensively, Feral stepped close and quickly grabbed the paw that was about to cast a spell.

"Easy now...they're friends. These two are called the SWAT Kats. They attacked you on my command so I could sneak up on you and get your attention," Feral quickly soothed him. "What was your question, Razor?" He asked the smaller SWAT Kat.

"What was the exact words of the task you were given and what did the wizard look like?" Razor asked Mad Kat.

Reassured, Mad Kat said, "I was told to merge with whoever released me then go after a king, knight, queen, and jester. No reason was given. I was to put them in the box then wait for further orders. My only difficulty was translating those instructions to fit this new world which is what Ringtail did for me. As for what the wizard looked like... he was very short, like a dwarf, had only one eye, no fur and looked rather like a red colored, walking skeletal. He used a large watch as his focal point to work magic."

"Crud!"... "No way!"... "Impossible, what are the odds?" Came three quick responses from three different throats at the same time.

Mad Kat frowned at them. "Methinks you know this wizard?"

"You could say that!" Razor said sourly. "From your description it could only be the Pastmaster. It makes perfect sense now why he set you that task. It was his way of getting revenge on us for defeating him so many times. And, of course, he had to be sure you would understand your instructions by giving you a way to learn from the one you merged with to adjust to the time period that is far more modern than the one you arrived here in. Your many efforts to follow that task explains your appearance in our history books. The Pastmaster also deliberately gave you a weakness so you'd be defeated and survive until you reached our time."

"Your hypothesis is correct. That was his plan and his name. But I never understood why he'd go to such lengths for what you now tell me is revenge," Mad Kat said, shaking his head.

T-Bone snorted. "No one understands that little creeps reasoning. It never made sense to any of us why he'd want to take over our city when he couldn't even take over the same city in the past when it was called Megalith City."

"Also, it seems he used you to try and succeed once and for all without having to get his paws dirty himself," Razor added.

Mad Kat shook his head. "He sounds crazed."

"Yeah, he certainly acts like he is but I think its more that he's very obsessed with this city for reasons we'll probably never know or understand," Razor sighed.

"So now we have him and Dark Kat to worry about!" T-Bone said, disgusted.

"That's all we need!" Feral growled in annoyance.

Mad Kat looked at all of them in bewilderment, not understanding what they were talking about.

Noting his expression, Feral just clapped him on the back and said, "Don't worry. We'll explain things to you and see if we can't help you out of this mess you're in."

"I would appreciate that," The Frendorian said, surprised and relieved they'd forgiven him and were willing to help him out, something he'd never expected.

Feral turned to lead the way across the flight line but he hadn't gone far when he halted and turned to eye his damaged flight line with an unhappy frown. Crews were already beginning to work to clear the debris. "Uhm, could you do me a favor first though? Repair my flight line please."

Mad Kat blushed, though one couldn't see it through his costume. "Sorry, of course I can." So saying, he turned and casually gestured toward the end of the runway startling the repair crew when the area was restored to normal in the blink of an eye.

"Perfect. Thank you," Feral said, pleased with the results.

"Could you do the same for the Turbokat?" T-Bone quickly interjected.

The jester nodded and made the same gesture, repairing the jet instantly.

"Fantastic. It looks like new," T-Bone said excitedly.

"Oh and one last thing, could you release your prisoners," Feral interrupted, realizing they hadn't done that yet.

"Oh...right...sorry!" Making the dimensional box appear, Mad Kat instantly released the prisoners. Mayor Manx and Litterbin appeared looking terrified and bewildered.

"Everything's alright now, Mayor. We're going to my office to talk a little more with my fellow Frendorian and see if we can help end his curse," Feral said to the pair then headed off toward the hangar once more.

Manx and Litterbin gaped at the departing group.

"Did he say fellow Frendorian? And what curse is he talking about?" Manx asked Litterbin in total shock.

"If we want answers, Mayor Manx, we'd better catch up to them," Litterbin said, excitedly, taking to a run to catch up to the fast disappearing group. This was going to make a fantastic piece for his show tonight.

Shaking his head, Manx started running as well. What a strange day this was turning out to be.


	15. Chapter 15

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

**Chapter 15: Making a New Ally**

As the rather large group walked through the hangar, many of Feral's Enforcers stared in shocked surprise, especially seeing Mad Kat walking calmly within the group as they filed into an elevator and vanished from view.

Many were still wide-eyed in awe about the Commander's alien appearance and now here was something new to talk about. The crew that had gone out to repair the flight line returned and was set upon by their co-workers for information but none could answer their questions as they weren't close enough to hear. Speculation about what it meant for Mad Kat to be with the Commander would fuel endless gossip for months to come.

Paying no mind to the attention they were getting, the group rode upward in silence.

Mad Kat's eyes were wide with amazement at the odd form of transport. He'd never had the opportunity to look around before whenever he was released. Maybe this time he'd get the chance. It certainly was an interesting time period.

Feral took a moment to make a call. Pulling out his cell, he hit speed dial and spoke a few moments with one on the other end of the phone then hung up, dropping the phone back in his pocket. Just then the elevator door slid open on the 15th floor. He led the way to his office, striding along a carpeted hallway toward an alcove halfway down.

Turning into it, they passed his surprised secretary and reached a large door which he opened and stepped through, the rest following. All halted suddenly just inside and stared at the huge mess within. Shattered glass and folders were still sprayed across a large area of floor and the wind, that normally whipped around the top of his high building, blew like a mini hurricane into the room, lifting the file folders and paper and whirling them around.

Feral sighed and shook his head at the sight.

"What the heck happened to your office, Feral?" Manx asked, loudly, to be heard against the roar of sound from the wind.

"I'm sorry...my fault...," Mad Kat interjected feeling bad about the mess. He snapped his fingers and all was back to normal in an instant, even the big windows. It was rather startling to go from a roar to silence so quickly which was why no one moved or said anything for a few seconds.

"Well, that's handy," Litterbin murmured, the first to speak.

"Thank you, Mad Kat. Now I suggest we go into my conference and talk..." Feral said, leading the way to another door out of his office. Opening it revealed a long wooden table with many chairs all around it. At the far end of the room was a blank wall where images could be displayed via a computer projector system. Feral headed to the chair at the that end trailed by Mad Kat.

Manx felt unnerved by being this close to the omega so opted for sitting about four chairs away. Litterbin wasn't as fearful and began to take a seat next to Mad Kat himself when Feral interceded.

"I'm sorry, but you can't be here for this..." Feral said, an uncompromising tone in his voice.

"Now wait a minute! I was kidnapped and I have a right to know what is going on and why he is cooperating with you now rather than attacking..." Litterbin objected strenuously.

"You have no right. I apologize for you being kidnapped, even though we had no idea when Mad Kat would strike, but the rest of this meeting is classified so you must go. If you need medical assistance..."

"No ... I don't ... but you'll be hearing from me about this as soon as I get back to the studio!" Litterbin huffed.

"Understood." Feral was unmoved by the threat and turned to his assistant who had been on the sidelines waiting for the events to calm down. "Escort Mr. Litterbin downstairs and have one of the patrols return him to the Megakat Broadcasting offices." Sgt Fallon gave a quick nod, saluted then gestured for Litterbin to follow him.

As an irate Litterbin was escorted out, Calico Briggs was arriving. She eyed Litterbin a moment but said nothing to him as she walked past and into the conference room. Sgt Fallon closed the door firmly behind her before leading Litterbin back to the elevator.

While the confrontation between Feral and Litterbin was going on, the SWAT Kats opted to sit close to Mad Kat, just in case the omega wasn't as sincere as he seemed.

Feral smiled and gave Callie a brief hug before escorting her to the table. She took a seat beside the Mayor, on the side closest to Mad Kat, with two chairs still between them.

Once everyone was seated except himself, as the chairs had arms and wouldn't accommodate his wings, Feral stood and proceeded to bring the Mayor and Deputy Mayor up to date on what had been said before on the flight line. Shocked looks and some disbelief on the Mayor's part was the response he got.

"What a terrible life you were forced to lead," Callie said, a look of sympathy and sorrow on her pretty face.

Mad Kat felt a warmth within him at her show of genuine concern. It felt strange to have someone care about him after experiencing so much cruelty all his life even before he'd been abandoned here.

"Why were you exiled?" She asked.

The jester's face tightened with remembered pain and humiliation. "I was not able to give my Queen a kitten," he admitted with shame.

"Don't hang your head like that!" Feral barked, startling Mad Kat who stared at him in shock. "We are not some prize bull to be used and then tossed aside. It took me a long time to realize that. But by the time she came back for me..."

Mad Kat's eyed widened. He blurted, "She came back to get you but-but why are you still here?"

Feral gave him a cold, flat look. "Here I'm happy. Back home I would be a piece of chattel again with no rights or responsibilities except to bow down to some spoiled female's whim. I promised myself that would never happen to me again."

"You-you said that to a Queen!" Mad Kat gasped in shock. Feral nodded. "And she accepted it?" He asked in a hushed, amazed voice. He simply couldn't imagine anyone refusing a Queen anything she desired.

His fellow Frendorian displayed lots of fang when he said with grim humor, "Of course not, but I gave her no choice and fought back when she tried to physically take me. With the help of these two..." he pointed at the SWAT Kats, "...I defeated her and forced her to accept an alternative to taking me back."

"I-I-I can't believe this! No one's ever defied a Queen!" Mad Kat shook his head wildly, setting his bells to ringing.

"Well I did! She's finally had someone stand up to her," Feral snorted derisively.

"So...she left...?" Mad Kat whispered, his shock at Feral's defiance morphing into sadness and loss as he realized he was stuck on this planet forever.

Feral eyed the other Frendorian a moment, his expression softening. "You want to go home." He didn't ask, it was obvious on the other's face. Mad Kat nodded.

"It doesn't matter that my Queen cast me away. I miss home so very much. The memories ... good and bad ... were all that I had to keep my sanity during all those lonely years and now you tell me I just missed the chance to go back ..." Mad Kat's voice broke, as sorrow choked him.

Feral sighed, feeling bad for the other's unhappiness, then his eyes widened as a possible solution came to him. "Wait! Maybe you can still go home." Mad Kat blinked at him in confusion and growing hope as Feral turned to the smaller SWAT Kat, excitement flashing in his eyes. "Razor ...can you boost a signal strong enough to reach the Queen's ship?"

Razor and T-Bone gaped at him in confusion and dismay. Manx sputtered in shock and Callie just stared in disbelief at her lover.

"Crud, Feral why would you want to bring her back here? We were lucky to make her leave in the first place," Razor demanded.

"Because, he is exactly what they need to help restore the population besides the samples they took from me. And I doubt she'll mind that he's in Kat form. It's even possible with their interstellar connections, that someone out there might be able to break the spell. He's everything she wants and needs because his genes are now healed and capable of bringing life as they weren't when he was exiled," Feral said, excitedly, thrilled he had come up with a solution of what to do with Mad Kat.

Razor blinked and thought about that a moment then nodded reluctantly. "Okay, you make a good case for getting her back and it's obvious this poor guy really doesn't want to stay here like you do. Let me get back to the hangar and I'll see if I can come up with something that might do the trick. What message do you want me to send? It has to be short to reach over such a distance, that is, if it manages to go that far at all," he said dubiously, shrugging his shoulders.

"Understood. Simply tell her we found another Frendorian whose genes are like mine and who wants to go home. Please return and pick him up to help you repopulate. That should be enough to coax her to return," Feral said.

"Got it. Come on buddy! The sooner we do this the sooner we can return. You can refuel while I'm sending the message," Razor said, getting up and heading for the door.

T-Bone sighed and hurried after his partner.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"If anyone can reach the Queen, it will be Razor. He's a genius," Feral assured Mad Kat after the SWAT Kats had left, privately praying the smaller SWAT Kat managed to pull off yet another miracle.

Mayor Manx and Callie gaped at Feral. It was shocking to hear him actually say something positive about the SWAT Kats.

Mad Kat ignored the by play and gave his fellow Frendorian a more hopeful look.

Feral was tired of standing so took a seat on the edge of the table and crossed his arms over his chest. His wings were folded close. He had decided not to change back to Kat so Mad Kat would be constantly reminded he was a Frendorian too. There was some concern in his mind that his fellow Frendorian might not be completely sane so he would err on the side of caution for now.

"Listen, there's something you should know about living here...," he began, capturing Mad Kat's attention. "The mineral rich food and atmosphere here has made us into what our kind used to be centuries ago. We have most of our older abilities back, as well as being bigger, stronger, and more healthy."

Mad Kat stared at him with different eyes as he thought about what Feral was saying and actually took the time to look the other Frendorian over more thoroughly. "I never realized...have I changed too then?"

Feral scratched his neck and frowned. "Hmm ... I don't know as you aren't in your normal form, however, I would say yes as this form you now wear should reflect what your other one is like," he ventured.

Mad Kat looked down at himself. "Maybe you're right. I've never been sick and I am pretty powerful. Hey! I wonder if I'll keep my magical powers when I'm returned to normal?"

The Commander's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Never even thought of that..."

"Guess there is a lot that will be discovered when you get your original form back," Callie interjected, trying to give the jester some hope.

"Thank you for that bit of confidence, my lady. I only hope it isn't misplaced," Mad Kat said, gallantly, appreciating her efforts on his behalf. "So, while we're waiting, tell me what happened between you and your Queen."

"Sure." Over the next hour, Feral told Mad Kat about the Queen's abrupt visit, how he'd been able to defeat her then get her cooperation to accept a different alternative suggested by Razor, what he'd been told had happened to their world since they both had left ... that news making Mad Kat sad and unhappy ... how desperately their newly restored genes would be to reviving their species, and told him what other benefits he'd noticed living on this world.

Mad Kat hung on Feral's every word. When the Commander finally drew to a close, the room was silent. Most of the story the Callie knew about but it was new to Mayor Manx who shook his head in wonder. He stared at Feral with new eyes.

"That is incredible. This news makes me both happy and sad. Happy that I may have regained something important and sad that our world is nearly dead. It's a lot to absorb," Mad Kat said, shaking his head, the bells ringing again.

"I understand completely," Feral commiserated with him. He may not miss his world but it did hurt that it was suffering the way it was. "I truly wished we still had someone who knew magic but it was abandoned when technology took over years ago. The only one left that could do magic is the one who made your life even worse."

"The Pastmaster ... I can't believe he continues to stalk your world in this incredible future. Makes no sense to me."

"Nor to us either. Have no idea what he wants with us nor why he would want to make it a new Dark Ages," Feral grunted.

"Insanity?" Mad Kat smirked.

"Oh definitely," Feral smirked back then sighed.

Mad Kat sighed as well as his real problem smacked him in the face again. The discussion had managed to distract him for a little but no longer. "Then I hope your suggestion that other worlds may have the answer to remove my spell."

"Yes, well that and return Ringtail as well," Feral reminded him. "Do you know of a way to free him from you?"

"Unfortunately, no ... all that's tied to the spell itself. The only time we separate is if I return to the box," Mad Kat said, shuddering at the very thought of being trapped again.

"Oh surely we can't allow that to be done again?" Callie said, quickly. She couldn't bear the thought of this poor tortured soul having to go through that again.

Feral rubbed his face and sighed. "No, I don't want him to do that either so we're forced to wait and see what the Queen has to say. Maybe we'll get lucky and she has someone that can do magic aboard her ship but that's a real long shot. I don't remember our planet even using magic do you?"

Mad Kat shook his head. "Certainly not during my time there."

"Well let's not get pessimistic now. Maybe things have changed since then," Callie insisted, trying to keep things light.

"I will hold onto that hope, my lady, however thin it might be," the jester smiled sadly at her.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"Do you really think you'll be able to send a signal that far, Razor?" T-Bone asked his partner when they arrived in their hangar some ten minutes later and waited for the turntable to carry them up to the main floor.

"I hope so, buddy. But I really don't know...all I can do is try," Razor said, distractedly, as his mind went over what he needed to do.

Sighing, T-Bone left his partner alone. When the turntable halted, he opened the canopy. Razor immediately leaped down and ran for his work shop. His partner took his time getting down then made for the fuel hose to begin refueling the jet.

Razor worked feverishly with his computer. It was tied to a huge mainframe that was hooked up to a satellite dish high on the roof of their home above. It looked like nothing more than a simple TV reception dish but it was soo much more. Razor was able to use it to tap into the broadcasting satellite circling their world that was used to transmit TV programs, to bounce a signal off it toward deep space. He transmitted the message and set his computer to repeat it on an endless loop until they got a response.

Sighing, he shut down his system except for the part that was sending the signal and returned to his partner who was lounging near the jet and waiting.

"Well, that's the best I can do. I have the message repeating so all we can hope is it reaches them before they are too far away, if they aren't already," Razor told him.

"It's something anyway, so let's get back to Feral's office," T-Bone nodded, then jumped aboard the Turbokat with Razor following.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The SWAT Kats arrived back on the flight line less than thirty minutes after they'd left. They walked past watchful Enforcers, who still didn't trust the pair, as they made their way to the elevator. At the top floor they strode down to Feral's office.

The smell of food hit their noses as soon as they opened Feral's office door and walked toward the conference room.

"Wow! Something smells good and I'm starved," T-Bone growled as he headed toward their seats and the six boxes of pizza and cans of soda sitting on the table.

"We couldn't do anything else so the Mayor returned to his office and I ordered pizza for us all," Callie said brightly, taking a small bite of her slice.

"Great idea," T-Bone grinned, picking up several slices and devouring them. .

Mad Kat had a huge grin on his face and a look of ecstacy as he ate pizza. By his expression, Razor had to assume he'd never had pizza before. Glad he likes it so much, he thought, amused.

"I sent the message, Commander, and have it on continuous repeat. Hope they haven't gone so far it never reaches them," Razor told him as he grabbed a piece of pizza for himself.

"I really hate the idea of her returning but I understand how much you want to go home Mad Kat," Callie said smiling warmly at the jester who grinned back and continued to eat.

She had been shocked to learn Mad Kat hadn't been allowed to eat much of anything whenever he was released. Magic kept his body running even without food but it hadn't been enjoyable for the tom. When she offered to get food he looked interested and then surprised at how great this strange food tasted. She was glad she could make him happy over such a simple pleasure as eating. Feral pulled her attention to him when he responded to her comment on the alien's return.

"I'll insure they only use their transporter...no ships will be allowed to land on the planet. And we'll limit the number allowed down. I think the Queen, Ztoram, a few of her guards and, hopefully, a wizard will be the only ones we'll have to deal with," Feral said.

"Sounds like a good plan. The only part that's doubtful in all this is separating the Kat from the Frendorian," Callie sighed, wiping some pizza sauce from her mouth with a napkin.

Feral nodded, then turned to the jester. "Mad Kat...

"Hmmm?"

"Because of your value to the planet as a new influx of genes, I have no doubt you'll be treated as an elite with some authority of your own. I strongly suggest you insure you do get a high position and are not downgraded to minion status with little power as you don't want to end up being simply a breeding machine. You deserve to have a fairly normal life after what you've been through. It will be up to you to set the standards you want to live by and make her accept them. Be thinking hard about this before the Queen decides for you. Remember, you hold the strongest bargaining chip of all ... good genes. Also remember, you are more powerfully built and healthier than anyone aboard ship and on our home world. Use that to your advantage. And one more thing..." Feral paused.

Mad Kat had been absorbing everything his fellow Frendorian was saying, thinking Feral had some very good suggestions and if he wanted a better life than he had here during his exile, then he'd better heed very word.

"What's that?"

"I need you to return the favor we've done you by insuring the Queen never comes back here for any reason. If they need other resources to help restore our home world make sure they look elsewhere. I love my life here and I have a right to my own happiness so make no mention about how resource rich this world is. Understood?" Feral warned him.

Mad Kat eyed him thoughtfully. "Yes. But I have a counter request."

"What might that be," Feral asked cautiously.

"That you give me seeds, books on growing food and cooking them and what I need to do to stay healthy when I return home. If our world is as mineral poor as you say, then my health will be at risk, yes?"

Feral blinked in surprise. "You're right and I should have thought of that. I'll have my assistant dig up what you need. I would suggest a complete physical but that's the wrong form your wearing. However, if you have gotten into the shape I'm in, there's no reason my Dr. Konway couldn't figure out from my medical records what it is you need. Since it may be a few days before the Queen returns, we have time to gather what you need. Good enough?"

Mad Kat nodded, eagerly. "Oh, definitely and thank you."

"No problem. I should have thought of that in the first place. Also, one last piece of advice, take your second chance and make it work. Our world is in dire need and you'll have your work cut out for you but if you're truly wanting a new start I can't think of a better way then to restore our world to its former glory with a few healthy changes. That total reliance on the Queens for everyone's well being needs to be adjusted so something like this can't happen again. You up to the task?" Feral asked.

Mad Kat didn't answer right away, his expression thoughtful as he continued to eat. Feral left him alone as he grabbed a slice to eat as well.

Finally, the jester nodded his head and said, "Though I have lived in a darkness built of evil, loneliness, and cruelty, I believe I am well up to this new task. It's a breath of fresh air and the hope of a new life free of fear that I've been dreaming of all those years in that cursed box." He stared into Feral gold and red-rimmed eyes earnestly.

"I promise that if the spell is removed and I'm restored to normal, I will do all I can to restore our world and since I've seen what this world does to rule its masses, I will find a way to make ours a bit more democratic, sort of because it will benefit me besides our people. I think I know what you mean by not being able to accept the rule of a Queen again. I don't think I can either. But, I'm not so foolish to think that I won't have difficulties. I have lived a horrible life for a very long time. This won't erase it but I hope I can overcome most of it," he said grimly.

"You're right to be concerned. The life you lived here has changed you indelibly but if you're strong enough, you should overcome much of it and use the strength it gave you to change your life to the way you want it to be," Callie said, firmly.

"Thank you. I just hope I can live up to your expectations. Remember, I have no experience with what a peaceful life is like."

"Well, now's your chance to learn," she said with a smile. He smiled back.

"She's right and I agree it will be hard for you but if you remember what you're there for and keep focused on it, you shouldn't have trouble pulling yourself out of your old existence and learning to adjust to the new," Feral reassured him, hoping it would be true. The Frendorian had spent a very long time in darkness and fear. He was right to be concerned.

"At least by the sound of it, I'll be far too busy to slid back into my past behavior anyway. All this is moot however if the spell on me isn't removed," Mad Kat sighed.

Feral silently agreed.

"On a different subject..." Mad Kat began, wanting to leave that depressing issue for now, "... How is it you were able to make the Kats accept your true form?"

"Ah...actually...I was in hiding. No one knew of my alien origins."

Mad Kat's eyes widened as he stared at Feral keenly. "You mean you regained the ability to alter your form?"

"Yes. The same thing that gave me this more powerful body also allowed me to change my form to look like them."

"Wait...that Kat in the military uniform...that was you!" Mad Kat exclaimed.

"That's right. I was the knight you kidnapped the last time you appeared," Feral confirmed.

"I wonder if that will work for me when and if I ever get my own form back..." Mad Kat mused more to himself than Feral.

Feral shrugged. "One can hope."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_**Somewhere far out in space...**_

A huge ship was just reaching the edge of a solar system that lay past the one that held the planet Aristal. On it's newly restored bridge the comm officer frowned in confusion. For the next hour he listened closely to something that was almost too far away to be heard but it intrigued him enough to keep him trying to bring the signal in. Finally, he succeeded by boosting his own gain as far as he could until he heard the message clear enough to be understood. Shocked, he hurriedly saved it and turned to the officer on duty.

"Sir, I have retrieved a message directed to us from the planet we just left!" He relayed breathlessly.

The deck officer frowned at him and said gruffly, "Let's hear it."

The comm officer turned back to his board and moments later a strange voice was heard. The deck officer sucked in a breath then barked out a quick order, "Send an urgent call to General Ztoram."

The general was, at that moment, enjoying some well deserved rest in his quarters. He was working on his plans for becoming the Queen's consort. His first step toward that goal, he'd already initiated by making some tentative overtures toward the Queen meeting with moderate success. Tonight, he was racking his brain trying to come up with something more romantic.

His thoughts were interrupted by his intercom. "Yes?"

"Sir, we've received a message from Aristal!"

"What?...Send it to me!" He barked sharply. Moments later he was listening to the message Razor had sent, eyebrows raising high by the time it finished. Getting up immediately, he rushed out of his quarters and up to the Queen's.

A servant answered his urgent buzz. He brushed by the startled female and hurried to the Queen's sleeping room since she was not in her main living area. She looked up in angry surprise when he rushed in. He halted and sucked in a breath. She looked gorgeous in her relaxed state. Her hair was down and loose and she was wearing some kind of gauzy night wear that did nothing to hide her luscious curves.

Shaking himself, later for that, he decided then quickly told her what had brought him so urgently. "Many pardons my Queen but we've received a message from Aristal you must listen to," he said quickly before she could blast him in anger for his impertinence.

The words Aristal halted her fury and left her with her mouth open in shocked surprise. "Let me hear it," she ordered, regaining her composure. He went to a nearby wall unit and triggered the message he'd left there.

_**"Razor calling Frendorian Ship. Message from Commander Feral follows: Have found another Frendorian whose genes are like mine and who wants to go home. Please return and pick him up to help you repopulate. End Message!"**_

"Order the ship to reverse course, warp two," she said briskly, excitement lighting her eyes.

"Yes, my Queen, immediately," Ztoram said, equally excited, then turned on his heel and headed for the bridge.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_**Back on Aristal...**_

It had been several days since the message had been sent and during that time, Feral did as he had promised and had Dr. Konway do a thorough exam of him, look up what minerals his body was showing now and come up with a diet plan for Mad Kat. He also had the doctor make up a list of seeds and chemical and minerals needed, having Sgt Fallon go out and obtain them for him.

As for the jester, Feral had him placed in one of the apartments single Enforcers used in the second tower of Enforcer Headquarters, leaving two guards on the door. Before leaving him, he showed Mad Kat how to use the controls for the TV and all the modern things he wasn't familiar with. Smiling wickedly, Mad Kat used his magic instead to turn the TV on and the lights. Feral just rolled his eyes.

"You know, if you are somehow lucky to keep those powers, I would highly recommend you don't flaunt them."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Because none of our people can do magic, just what do you think will happen if they saw you use magic for everything?"

Mad Kat frowned then his face flashed a look of fear. "They might think I was too dangerous," he whispered.

"Exactly. Use your powers sparingly and never before the common people if possible. Keeping it secret will keep you safe but within the high court not flaunting it will also prevent other problems like jealousy and fear from them. Though I want you to be happy, you must not lower your guard completely, promise me."

Mad Kat gave him a grave look and nodded. "I promise. Thank you Ulysses for being so generous of spirit. Others would have simply allowed me to fend for myself after what I'd done but you rise above that and give me extremely valuable aid and advice I need both to help our people and grant me a chance at a real life. I won't ever forget that."

Feral shrugged, feeling a bit embarrassed. He really wasn't doing this for some altruistic reason. He was doing it to prevent his home world from troubling his adoptive one. He left the jester to entertain himself and learn to like being out of the box. Apparently, the spell that forced him to kidnap was in abeyance because he'd already made the attempt and lost. But for reasons none of them understood, least of all, Mad Kat, was why he wasn't automatically returned to his box.

When Feral went to seek help from Mr. Katzmer on the curse, he asked that question.

"What an odd thing. Perhaps it is because you didn't destroy his bells and he stopped on his own that confounded the spell...I truly don't know. But I am grateful it has given the poor soul a much needed break from his long incarceration," Katzmer said. Feral had given him a quick thumbnail of what Mad Kat's life had been and he'd been horrified and sad by the tale. "I will search my meager library to see if I can find out more about this but I don't hold out much hope."

"That's all I can ask. We have only a few days before the Queen returns..." Feral reminded him.

"I do understand, sir and will get to my research immediately," Katzmer assured him as he saw the Commander out of his shop.

"Thank you." Feral's next stop was Dr. Sinian. She too promised to research her ancient tomes for any clues to aid Mad Kat. She'd been just as shocked to learn of Mad Kat's tale and asked that she be given the full story when the Commander had time. He promised then returned to his office.

He had other work to occupy him, namely finding Dark Kat and Dr. Viper. He had been deadly serious about ending their threat to his adoptive home. So far his black ops teams had not been successful in locating either omega. However, just two days later one of his teams finally caught a break.

They'd been doing a sweep of the swamp south of the city and one of them spotted something suspicious. He called the rest of his team and they probed a little deeper. The sight of some of Viper's favorite plantimals lurking about told them they had hit the jackpot. They marked the area on a map and quickly withdrew to inform the Commander.

When he got the news, he was ecstatic. Summoning the SWAT Kats to meet him at the site, he also warned his team at the location itself, to stay out of sight of Viper's creatures and wait for his arrival. He took a chopper alone and flew to the swamp.

Finally, I'll be able to ut that lizard out of his misery, he said, grinning evilly to himself as he flew as fast as he dared to rendevous with his team.


	16. Chapter 16

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 16: Viper's Demise

Feral arrived just a few minutes ahead of the SWAT Kats, landing at least a mile from the site where Viper's creatures had been spotted. The Turbokat opted to land not far from him, surmising he wanted to sneak up on their common enemy.

Feral was in his altered form waiting for them.

"You don't plan on letting him leave this swamp alive, do you Commander?" Razor asked carefully when they reached him.

He just gave them a flat stare, ignoring the question as he gave them orders, "I want you to help my team kill all the mutant creatures you can find. We don't want any of those things to survive to breed more......if that's even possible for them....better safe than sorry."

"Agreed! Shall we go?" T-Bone said softly, staring off into the swamp.

Feral's response was to begin stalking through the vegetation, leading the way. His sharper senses were able to pick out the scent of his team and lead the SWAT Kats unerringly to their location without making any noise or calling ahead. He was pleased to note the SWAT Kats were nearly as soundless in their movements as he was.

"Commander!" The leader blinked in surprise. He hadn't heard the big tom at all and was equally surprised to see the SWAT Kats at his back having made no noise of their own. Shaking his head, he didn't wait to report. Keeping his voice very low, he said briskly," sir, there's been no change and all has been quiet......or as quiet as a swamp full of nasty creatures can get."

"Excellent! I want you and your team to work with the SWAT Kats to destroy all the mutant creatures you can find. Leave none alive! Please be careful of the indigenous creatures though, even if alligators are hard to avoid........perhaps feeding them some of the mutants will appease them enough to leave you alone to get your jobs done," he said in grim humor.

"If your weapons don't work against a creature, lead them to the SWAT Kats whose weapons are more effective. Don't keep firing at them in the hopes that concentrated fire will work. That will only get you killed.....give way if you must! I don't want to lose any of you. As for Viper....he is mine. Head out!" He ordered grimly then took off through the tall grass and vanished from view, silent as a ghost.

"Whew! He can sure move fast and quiet!" The team leader commented softly as he turned and lead his team toward their first targets.

The SWAT Kats split up, taking the wing positions on either side of the team, glovatrixes at the ready. It didn't take them long to run into some of Viper's nasty spike trees and slithering vines. Two of the team yelped in shock as their feet were pulled from under them and they were carried aloft into the air.

Twin 'whoosh' sounds announced the firing of glovatrix missiles. Slicers bloomed and cut the vines efficiently allowing their prisoners to drop to the soft, soggy ground. Picking themselves up quickly, the two enforcers looked around them with more care.

One of the spiked trees leaned down, threatening to grab Razor but a shout of warning from another of the team made the smaller SWAT Kat whirl around and fire a matchhead missile, setting the nightmare tree aflame. It made an eerie squealing noise as it burned.

The noise of battle alerted the rest of Viper's ugly and nasty menagerie and the team was forced to take a back to back position to fire at the various weird plants coming at them from all directions. The SWAT Kats stayed cool and continued to fire their glovatrixes at all the newcomers while the enforcers fired their bullets and lasers.

Not too far from the now raging battle, Feral had discovered the hidden door in a tree that led to Viper's underground labs. He managed to fry the surprisingly modern electronic lock with his own power. He pulled the heavy door open and slipped inside, his eyes adjusting to the dark entryway with little difficulty. He closed the door silently behind him then headed down the crude rock stairs.

His sharp ears heard strange animal noises from somewhere ahead of him. The staircase ended in another heavy door. Behind it came the animal noises. Trying the door knob, he found it opened easily. Peering cautiously around the partially open door he saw a dimly lit lab but no sign of Viper. Along the back wall was a line of cages with creatures that were no longer recognizable as natural.

Upon seeing and scenting him, they went mad and began a wild cacophony of racket. Frowning he looked around more quickly then stepped into the room. Viper should have heard the noise and be coming from wherever he was in this underground warren. He studied the things covering all the work benches. Typical laboratory items were in evidence and many experiments were obviously bubbling or simmering in glass beakers here and there. He was careful to touch none of it. The creatures were beside themselves with terror and were beating themselves crazily against their cage bars. He grimaced at them unhappily.

He sniffed the air and snorted violently. It really reeked of Viper and all those odd creatures. His ears pricked up suddenly at a sound coming from another door at the end of the room. He quickly hurried to stand with his back to the wall so that he would be behind the door once it opened. The sound drew closer and he could tell it was Viper muttering to himself irritably.

Grinning coldly, Feral readied himself for the battle to come, his heart racing with excitement. The door slammed open hard, nearly hitting Feral but he'd been prepared and halted it with his palms. Viper never noticed as he moved hurriedly toward the door leading to the outside.

"What could be going on out there," the mutant Kat hissed to himself.

"That would be my enforcers and the SWAT Kats," Feral said coldly, leaping at the lizard.

Viper made a strange squealing noise as a heavy weight jumped on his back. Panicking, the lizard rolled around and managed to just barely get the Frendorian off his back by getting his two feet under Feral's ribcage and thrusting him away. He jumped to his feet and swung his tail to try and knock the intruder's feet from under him but Feral leaped easily out of the way.

His big paws grabbed the swinging tail and began whirling Viper around a few times over his head and let him go. The lizard crashed into the cages, breaking nearly all of them open. With howls, the creatures hurled themselves out of their damaged prisons and tried to find a way to escape.

Some them ran over Viper who shoved them aside or threw them at the lab tables, making a further mess of the lab as he clambered to his feet and faced his unexpected guest. Viper blinked in stunned shock as he got a good look at the creature before him. His mouth dropped open as he beheld a figure unlike any he made in his lab or had seen when he'd once been a Kat.

The creature's huge form took up a good section of his lab especially with its wings nearly open wide. Gleaming fangs longer than his own flashed in a mouth filled with nothing but sharp incisors. Strange looking antenna came out of its head and its claws were super long.

"What are you?" He blurted, staring at the thing while trying to see a way out past it.

"Why, Viper don't you recognize me," Feral chuckled wickedly. "If you'd been watching the news you would have realized who I was."

"You're not from here, I know that much!" Viper hissed, sidling along the wall of broken cages and trying for the door he'd come through moments before but Feral was shadowing his every move on the other side of the tables and blocked that avenue of escape.

Feral gave a deep laugh of derision. "How about this, 'You're under arrest!'" He boomed.

Viper's eyes widened even more. "Feral?!"

"As a certain SWAT Kat I know is fond of saying, 'bingo'."

"I don't know what'ssss happened to you but you are not taking me back to prissssson."

"Oh, you're not going back to prison, Viper," Feral rumbled, eyes glimmering dangerously as he moved closer to the lizard.

Viper blinked and went even colder than his metabolism was normally. "Wha......what are you talking about!" He stuttered, looking around wildly for a weapon to use.

"Oh, I think you can guess!" Feral growled, suddenly leaping over the lab table at Viper. The mutant screamed in terror, managing to duck beneath the table and scramble to the other side to reach the door to the outside, at last. He yanked it open and tore up the stairs. Feral crashed through all the lab equipment as if it were made of paper and charged up the stairs as well.

Viper burst through the door at the top and raced through the swamp as fast as his legs would go. He didn't hear any pursuit but he didn't dare stop and look. It wouldn't have matter if he had as his pursuer was now airborne and closing on him fast.

Seconds later, Viper screamed as huge claws dug into his lab coat and through it to his shoulders, jerking him from the ground and soaring higher and higher into the air. He tipped his head up and saw Feral flying easily without strain toward the clouds scudding through the night sky. Terror clawed at him as he tried desperately to free himself despite the pain.

They were very high up in a matter of seconds when Viper felt those sharp claws suddenly pull free of him and he was falling to the ground. His screams were lost in the roaring sound of his fall. He hit the ground so hard he had only a moments intense pain before everything faded to black.

Feral swooped down and checked the lizard......dead.....a grim feeling of satisfaction raced through him.....another enemy gone at last. His head came up when he heard the sounds of battle getting closer.

He leaped into the air and flew over the battle field. The smell of burning vegetation made his nose burn and twitch. The SWAT Kats had managed to kill many of the more deadly types of plantimals. His ops team were alive though a couple of them were injured.

He swooped down and carried off one of the injured to the surprised squawk of the patient and his comrades left behind. He took the tom to his chopper and sat him in the cockpit.

"You should be safe here, but keep your wits about you and your weapon aimed. This battle is nearly over," he told his enforcer.

"Yes sir, thank you sir," the officer said gratefully.

Feral nodded and launched himself skyward again. Moments later he returned with the second injured officer. Now that they were safe, he returned to help end the battle. Hovering over the battle site, he scanned for fresh enemies......finding some to the west of the SWAT Kats he went there and fired his own energy bursts....burning a path of death that quickly wiped out all the mutated plants. He repeated his search and destroy mission over several nearby areas of the swamp until there were no more mutated creatures anywhere.

He landed near the SWAT Kats and the rest of his ops team. "We're clear. All that needs done now is to destroy Viper's lab."

"I'll do that. I've got just the thing," Razor said confidently as he pulled out something from one of his pockets, attached it to his glovatrix and walked to the tree entrance of Viper's lab. He fired straight down the stairwell, then closed the door and ran back to the waiting group. The ground shook for a moment and a roar went up the tree trunk and into the sky making the tree look like a roman candle for some minutes before it died back.

"All taken care of!" Razor smirked, pleased at his handiwork.

"Great job!" Feral said. "Let's get Viper's body and get out of here." He lead the way to the body, the enforcers hefted it up and began walking toward the Turbokat with Feral leading the way.

The two injured officers relaxed in relief when they saw the others come out of the grass carrying their dead enemy. In quick order, the rest of the team and Viper's body loaded aboard the Turbokat while Feral took back his Kat form and flew the two injured officers in his chopper back to Enforcer Headquarters.

The jet was met on the flight line and Viper's body was carried off to the morgue, the ops team following.

"You did well tonight. Let's hope we can get Dark Kat soon before he throws something new at us before coming himself," Feral grunted, stretching and covering a yawn. "Go get some rest."

"You don't have to tell me twice," T-Bone said tiredly. Waving goodbye, the pair leaped aboard their jet and lifted off, heading home.

"I couldn't see a mark on Viper but I suspect he was busted up completely on the inside to die so easily," Razor commented on the trip home.

"Yeah. Makes me feel a little cold inside that Feral could kill that easily and without remorse. Just lift the creep up and drop him.....splat! Yuck. But I don't miss that damn mutant. I just hope we can get rid of Dark Kat soon, this waiting is making me jumpy," T-Bone said with a shudder.

"I agree. We can't get rid of him too soon to suit me either," Razor muttered.


	17. Chapter 17

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 17: The Queen Returns

Only four days after Viper's demise, the Frendorian spaceship returned to Aristal's airspace. Just before they made their arrival known, Feral was unhappily coming to the conclusion he couldn't help his fellow Frendorian.

Despite the extensive research done by Dr. Sinian and Mr. Katzmer, neither had been able to find a way to break the curse laid on Mad Kat.

Mr. Katzmer had studied all the books and documents he had in his little shop but could find nothing more on Mad Kat's background. As for Dr. Sinian, she had found a little more information on his history but it was little more than a small blip about the jester living in a rival court in Queen Callista's time. She could find no mention of the sorcerer who had done this to him, it was as if he hadn't existed.

The small group consisting of; Dr. Sinian, Feral, Mad Kat, Sgt Fallon, Callie, Katzmer, and the SWAT Kats met in her office at the museum to discuss their findings and what could be done next.

A depressed Mad Kat looked at all the long faces around him. "So there's no hope, is there?" He asked bleakly.

"It certainly looks that way," T-Bone growled unhappily.

"The only option left is the Pastmaster but we never know when that creep will show up in our time!" Razor said, equally unhappy.

Mad Kat's shoulders slumped. "I can't go home like this," he said bitterly.

Feral sighed and realized that was only too true. Before he could come up with anything to help ease his fellow Frendorian's depression, his radio toned.

Pulling it out of his pocket, he barked into it, "Feral!"

"Commander, we're receiving a communication for the Frendorian Queen. They have arrived back in our system and are closing in on Aristal," the comm officer said excitedly.

Mad Kat's look was a mixture of hope and sorrow. Wincing, Feral looked away and spoke to his officer, "tell her I'll speak to her as soon as I return to headquarters in about ten minutes."

The group, wanting to see the end of this, all followed Feral back to Enforcer Headquarters. To save time, the SWAT Kats transported them in their Turbokat. Mad Kat had offered to get them there instantaneously but Feral nixed that saying everyone would have to then find ways back to their homes and offices when their vehicles were still at the museum after he had left.

Blushing in embarrassment that he hadn't thought of that, Mad Kat took himself away to wait for them.

In less than ten minutes, they were walking to the comm center. The Comm Officer greeted Feral as he and the others walked into the room. "Sir! The Queen is standing by for you." He gestured to the specific tech receiving the call.

Feral nodded to the tech to open the channel. "Feral here!"

"Ahhh, Ulysses, so good to hear your voice so soon. You say you have another refugee there?" Came the sultry tones of the Queen.

"Yes. He was trapped here over a two hundred years ago, planet time. He wishes to go home but there is a problem that must be dealt with first."

"Problem?"

He could hear the unhappy tone in her voice.......well he wasn't so happy about this either.

"Unfortunately, the reason he was able to survive so many years was a curse laid on him by an ancient sorcerer long since dead and another one who added to that curse who visits us to cause trouble from time to time. I and my people have been trying to find a way to lift it but have not had any success so far and waiting for the Pastmaster could take a long time since he is not consistent about visiting us from the past," he explained.

"Why would this curse matter?" Came the voice of her First Officer Ztoram.

"Because he's trapped in the body of a Kat, his true form is locked in a box, so he and the Kat need to be separated before he can leave. Also, the two sorcerer's left him with the ability to perform magic in place of his normal abilities."

There was stunned silence for some minutes before the Queen spoke again, "did you say magic?"

"Yes. He's capable of creating and destroying anything with just a thought," Feral confirmed grimly.

"Just a moment, Ulysses!" The Queen said abruptly, her voice excited, before she cut the connection.

Mad Kat looked at Feral in worried confusion. Feral could only shrug his shoulders, not certain what was on the Queen's mind either.

Meanwhile aboard the bridge of the Frendorian ship, the Queen stared at Ztoram in barely contained excitement.

"What if we could get him back his form but keep what sounds like formidable magical powers intact? Can you imagine what he would be capable of doing for us?"

Ztoram was more cautious about this new development. "It's an incredible thing alright but it could also mean danger for us, my Queen. Remember, he would be extremely powerful and I'm not certain our resident magic users would be able to handle him.

"Well, we need to ask them. Order Nentor to join us," she said firmly then signaled her comm officer to reopen the channel to Feral.

"Ulysses! We may have a solution to the problem. We now have magic users of our own. If you will allow it, I'll bring my head wizard down with me and see if he can do something about the curse," she said, barely restrained excitement in her voice.

On the planet, in his comm center, Feral blinked in stunned surprise and excited pleasure, though he was also cautious about this offer. He looked over at Mad Kat and saw an equal look of excitement and hope.

"That is excellent news!" He said, very pleased then added, "When you arrive, only you, your wizard, Ztoram, and two guards will be allowed on our soil."

She was a little miffed by his over protectiveness for his adoptive world but, for once, made no comment on it nor argument. "Agreed. We are within fifteen minutes of arrival to your world's orbit. Will we be able to transport down at that time?" She asked politely.

Feral blinked at the Queen's calm acceptance of his stricture. Ztoram must have been really working on her since they left, he grinned at that thought. Shaking himself, he answered, "notify me of your arrival then I'll give you clearance. Here are the coordinate for my office," he told her than rattled off the coordinates for her transporter tech.

"Agreed. See you shortly," the Queen said then cut the connection.

"Oh, I hope her wizard can help!" Mad Kat said, wringing his paws worriedly.

Feral went to Mad Kat's side and gently patted him on the back. "So do I. Although, I still fear only the Pastmaster can break what he made."

"I'm afraid you may be right, Commander," Dr. Sinian said unhappily.

Everyone looked at her in consternation. She sighed and explained, "from what I've been able to glean from studying all the magical data left by our ancestors, curses usually can only be removed by the creator or, in very unusual situations, by an extremely powerful wizard."

Mad Kat moaned in dismay again.

"No point in getting so upset yet. Let's wait and see what the Queen's wizard can do before we give up," Razor cut in, trying to keep everyone's spirits up.

"I agree with the SWAT Kat. Let's go up to my office, they will be in orbit very shortly," Feral said herding them all out of the comm center. Over his shoulder he told the Comm Officer, "forward the Queen's call to my radio." The officer nodded.

Minutes later, they gathered in Feral's office. Razor wandered to the window and stared up at the sky. "You know, it's too bad we haven't got the last two of our pains in the tails yet," he murmured.

"You mean the Pastmaster and Dark Kat, huh?" T-Bone rumbled coming to his friend's side.

"Yeah.......we're so close to being free of them......" Razor sighed, letting his sentence drift off.

Feral eyed them, a frown creasing his face. Razor's wish triggered something in his mind but he just couldn't seem to crystallize it. He glanced over at Mad Kat. The altered Frendorian was trying to make himself feel better by juggling some colorful balls he conjured into existence.

Feral's mouth dropped open as the thought he'd been trying to bring forward burst into being. He could kick himself for not having thought of this earlier. 'Of course.....you idiot.....the solution to your omega problem is standing right there!'

"Mad Kat!" He blurted excitedly.

"Heh?" The jester stared at him, dropping his toys in surprise.

"You could take care of our problems before you leave.......call it recompense for the damages you caused the last time you were out," Feral said, a smug look on his face. Everyone could only stare at him in confusion.

"You do magic.....which means you can just snap your fingers and bring us Dark Kat and Turmoil. It would be nice if you could get the Pastmaster but I understand he controls your powers so you can't but at least you can take out the last two omegas for us," he said triumphantly.

The SWAT Kats gaped at Feral. "Well, Crud! Why didn't we think of that?" Razor said in disgust.

"That's how I felt when it finally struck me just now," Feral snorted. "Well, can you do it?"

Mad Kat looked at him in stunned surprise then a grin of pure evil spread across his face. "Aw, that's just too easy," he smirked. He made a grand gesture and suddenly, in a brief flash of light, Dark Kat and Turmoil were standing in Feral's office.....shock and disbelief on their faces.

To ensure they wouldn't do anything or try to escape, Mad Kat had bound them with tight nylon ropes.

A cheer went up from the watchers as Feral strode up to Dark Kat and studied him a long moment. The huge Kat stared back, fury and shock shining from those evil, dark eyes. Those eyes flicked toward the colorful jester and spit in anger, "You! How dare you betray us all?"

Mad Kat glared at him coldly, "I'm not one of you. I'm a trapped Frendorian and now I have a chance to go home. You mean nothing to me except as payment for things I've done wrong against this planet's people."

Dark Kat recoiled in shocked surprise. His grand plan to use Mad Kat to rid himself of Feral and the SWAT Kats permanently was irrevocably destroyed. Making things that much worse was learning his suspicions about Feral were well founded but never would he have guessed Mad Kat was an alien as well. As he struggled violently against his bonds, he feared what these two creatures had planned for him.

Feral drew the evil Kat's attention back to him by saying, "guess what Dark Kat? We're going to be rid of you for good." Moving his face even closer, Feral grinned widely and said, coldly, "You'll be leaving Aristal forever." Smirking, he stepped away from the badly shaken tom.

The huge tom shuddered as he took a good guess at what Feral meant. The SWAT Kats looked puzzled for a moment, but just as Razor caught on Callie grinned delightedly and asked, "that's a great idea but will she take him?"

Feral gave her a wolfish grin and said, "oh yes, she will because they are always looking for strong slaves to do all the heavy work.....even more so since the population is less than it was. The slaves are treated well enough but they have no rights and can never leave."

"Yeah, but he's cunning and could do your people more harm," Callie said warningly.

Feral shook his head, "he'd never get the opportunity. Remember, I told you all my race are totally loyal to the Queen and even in their more weakened condition, they are still three times more powerful then even the strongest of you Kats. He doesn't stand a chance."

The SWAT Kats grinned widely. "Oh yeah! The perfect place for him. Maybe it'll even teach him humility......if it doesn't kill him first," Razor said with certainly, undisguised joy in his voice.

Dark Kat could only stare at them in angry fear. Turmoil though just stared at all of them in nervous tension, wondering what was planned for her.

"And what do you intend to do with me?" She asked proudly, keeping her fear at bay.

Feral eyed her intently. "I will make you a deal. Leave Megakat City and never come back."

Shaking her head, she couldn't believe the temerity of the tom standing before her. Frowning, she turned her head to stare at Mad Kat. She'd only heard about the jester but seeing what he could do for herself, she knew she never wanted to tangle with the creature ever again but to leave such a rich prize as Megakat City alone......well she needed something a little more tangible before she'd do that. She turned back to Feral.

"Forgive my bluntness, Commander, but I don't believe all this nonsense I've heard about you," she said coolly.

Snorting in amusement, Feral answered her pointed disbelief with his true appearance. In the blink of an eye, he allowed his form to return to normal. Turmoil took an involuntary step back while Dark Kat sucked in a breath. Swallowing hard, Turmoil shuddered, shivers chasing down her spine.

'Okay, that was as real as it gets!' She thought, terror making her blood cold. Turmoil realized she was being given one chance to escape Dark Kat's fate and she'd be a fool to refuse it. Licking suddenly dry lips, she said shakily, "Agreed! I will never step foot in this city again nor attempt to encroach on its borders."

"Excellent! Mad Kat would you send her wherever she wants to go?" Feral asked his countryman.

Mad Kat nodded and eyed Turmoil questioningly. Swallowing nervously, Turmoil mentioned a far away country. In the blink of an eye, she was gone.

Then moments later, Feral's radio toned. He pulled it out and listened, giving the order to connect him, he waited and the next voice he heard was the Queen asking permission to beam into his office.....though not really happy to be seeing her again, he gave it to her.

A brilliant light appeared in the office. When they could see again, there stood the Queen, Ztoram, a strange creature that looked like a huge ferret dressed in some kind of uniform, and two Frendorian guards.


	18. Chapter 18

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

Chapter 18: Solving Mad Kat's Problem

"Hello, again Ulysses. May I ask who is your fellow Frendorian?" the Queen asked the moment her form totally settled solidly in place.

Mad Kat stepped forward and bowed. "I am, my Queen," he said humbly.

Her eyebrows rose at the sight of his outlandish outfit but made no comment. The tom was big and powerful even though he was in Kat form. What he might look like in his true form made her heart race with anticipation....if he was even a tenth like Ulysses...what a prize he would be.

She turned to her wizard, the strange looking ferret-like creature and ordered, "Nentor, see what you can do to return his true from!"

The creature, Nentor bowed then pulled Mad Kat to one side of the room to speak with him privately. In response to one of the wizard's question, Mad Kat made his box appear, handing it over to the surprised wizard who took it cautiously and studied it.

"I hope he can help. Mad Kat is anxious to go home," Feral remarked quietly as they watched the pair.

"That surely isn't his name, Ulysses," the queen snorted.

"Uh, to tell you the truth we never asked him his real name," Feral said, mildly embarrassed that he'd never thought to ask.

Before she could say anything else, her attention was drawn back to the pair when Nentor cast a blue aura around Mad Kat. The jester stood absolutely still, nearly holding his breath and hoping what the creature planned would work. His magical box sat on the floor beside his feet.

After trying for over ten minutes to break the spell, Nentor ceased the attempt and stared at the unchanged Mad Kat with annoyance. Turning toward his Queen he growled, "Your majesty! . The combination of two wizard's spells is proving difficult so I need to do some digging in my old spell books for something else that might have a better chance of working."

"Understood! Be quick about it!"

Nentor nodded and vanished. Mad Kat sighed with disappointment. Dr. Sinian, Mr. Katzmer, Callie and the SWAT Kats sighed as well. They had prudently stayed near Feral's desk while all this was going on, allowing Feral to deal with the Queen.

"While we are waiting, I have something else to offer you," Feral said, drawing the Queen's attention to the omega still standing tied up behind him. "This Kat is a constant threat to the peace and well being of this city which Mad Kat has been gracious enough to put an end to by using his magic to capture him for us. I would like to now offer him to you as a slave. He has many talents that would be of great value to you: high intelligence, a techno genius, and is more strongly built than most of the Kat's on this world. However, he's also evil and twisted with no morals at all. I thought he would provide you with an interesting challenge in making him your personal slave."

The Queen gave Feral a surprised look before going to give Dark Kat a more thorough study. Ztoram stayed by her side and eyed the strange Kat while his Queen circled the tom, poking and prodding him as if he was a horse to buy.

"Hmm, he is strong looking, though his appearance is rather odd. A techno genius, eh? How so?"

"He's invented a variety of lethal bombs, flying machines, and even created his own home-grown army of creatures that aid him in his attempts to take over this city."

"Really? His own army.....grown....how?"

"That I couldn't answer. We've never seen how he's done it but we are constantly inundated by the things. They are about the size of a taglar beast, have wings, extremely sharp teeth and claws, and are semi-intelligent so they can follow orders and carry them out without much supervision."

"That is fantastic!" She said, pleased and amazed. "Is there a machine you use to produce these creatures?" She demanded of Dark Kat.

He made the mistake of staying mulishly silent, having made up his mind not to cooperate with this person who apparently was going to be his master, no matter how beautiful she looked. He'd die first!

Narrowing her eyes in displeasure, the Queen raised a paw and touched Dark Kat's shoulder. A jolt of absolutely agonizing pain ripped through his body making him scream and sink to his knees. She removed her paw and eyed the creature as Dark Kat hung his head and heaved for breath as the pain dissipated slowly.....he would not quickly forget the agony she could inflict...which of course was the reason she'd done it.

"Now, I asked you a question.....I expect a quick answer!" She snapped.

His head still down, he reluctantly rasped out, "yes it's a machine.....it's located in my hidden mountain lab."

She frowned and was about to ask where this lab was when Mad Kat interrupted, eager to please his new Queen, "I could bring it here or put it on your ship if you wish, my Queen."

A smile lit her face. "Why, that would be very welcome," she said happily then turned to Dark Kat again. "How big is it and what kind of power source does it use?"

"It's nearly as big as half this room and uses nuclear fusion," Dark Kat answered hurriedly. He had a bad feeling the Queen would torture him rather than kill him outright if he refused again. He wasn't afraid of death but constant pain was not something he was willing to endure.

"Mad Kat.....uh....what **is **your real name?" She paused to ask.

"Rundar, my Queen."

"Oh, what a fine name that is. Well then Rundar, please transport this creature's machine, a few of his minions, and all his other equipment to the space hangar on my ship."

"Yes ma'am........done!" Mad Kat said with a delighted grin after snapping his fingers.

She eyed him in astonishment but before she could comment her communicator grabbed her attention. It turned out to be her chief engineer and he was beside himself with excitement.

"My Queen, some immense machine and other weird equipment have just appeared on the hangar deck along with some dangerous creatures which we are presently trying to capture!"

"It's alright Ohmar. I asked for those things to be put there. Secure it and no one is to touch it. As for those creatures, one moment......" she paused and glanced at Mad Kat. "Would you please put those flying things in a cell in the brig?"

"Certainly, my Queen," Rundar said, snapping his fingers. "My apologizes for not doing that in the first place."

"That's okay......this time. Ohmar.....those creatures are now in a cell in the brig. Ensure no one releases them and that no one touches the machinery."

"Yes my Queen.....I will take care of it."

"Well, that was incredible. I sincerely hope Nentor can return you to your normal form but retain those amazing powers of yours. We can use you to help rebuild and protect our world," she purred, excitement gleaming in her eyes.

"I'm willing to do whatever you command, my Queen," Rundar preened, thrilled he had made such a good impression on his Queen.

Ztoram felt a flash of jealousy. He would have to insure Rundar didn't manage to ingratiate himself into the Queen's bed. That position would be his alone. He would also need to impress on the male that he would be required to obey him and others in power.

But to get someone as powerful as Rundar to obey would required careful handling. Ztoram would need to find a way to keep Rundar happy and healthy by making a position for him alone that would keep him far too busy to think much less get it into his head that he might do well to just take over their world completely. After all, the Frendorian had been locked away for centuries, who knew how his mind worked now.

He did have to agree with his Queen, though, that the abilities Rundar possessed, if he managed to keep them, would restore their planet to health and prosperity much faster than normal and his genes would increase their population as well. But he was dangerous and would need to be kept on a careful leash.

His Queen didn't notice her second's distracted frown as she made another request of her new subject. "Would you be so kind as to send Dark Kat up to the brig now too?"

"As you command, my Queen," Rundar responded briskly, snapping his fingers again. Dark Kat vanished.

Feral was grinning, absolutely thrilled that Dark Kat would no longer bother them again.

There was a sudden flash and Nentor reappeared. "Let's try this again," he muttered more to himself than anyone in the room. He gestured to Mad Kat, saying, "please stand over here."

Rundar did as asked, twitching with suppressed hope and excitement. Nentor began to mutter in a singsong fashion, his paws raised and this time a purple glow covered Mad Kat's form. The wizard continued to mutter his spell for some ten minutes then there was a blast of orange light blinding everyone. When they could see again, there stood a Frendorian, a disheveled modern Kat dressed in odd white clothing, and another strange Kat dressed in medieval attire.

Now in his true form, Rundar stared down at a body he'd not seen for more than two centuries. Tears of joy filled his eyes as he beheld his beautiful reddish-gold fur and opened his red-gold wings for the first time after so very long. "Yes!" He cheered and flapped his wings once in joyous relief.

Feral could only grin at his fellow Frendorian's antics......very happy for him.

The other Kats in the room gave Rundar an appreciative look before turning their attention to Lenny Ringtail and the odd stranger who looked terrified as well as angry.

"Wonder who the heck he is?" T-Bone murmured, speaking aloud what the others were thinking. He and Razor walked over to Ringtail, bracketing him in so he wouldn't think to escape. He stared them sourly for a moment before turning a puzzled stare over at the Frendorians.

The Queen's attention was completely focused on Rundar as she gave him an admiring look. "Hmm, you are quite handsome but do you still possess your magical powers?"

Rundar thought a moment then snapped his fingers toward the wall of windows. Suddenly the glass was gone and they were exposed to the high winds that blew this high up. Papers blew off Feral's desk and spun around in the air before Rundar snapped his fingers again and the glass replaced itself. Another snap and all of the papers were once more stacked on the desk neatly.

The strange tom cowered back against a wall in terror. He was totally bewildered by what was going on around him.

"Excellent! Now are your Frendorian abilities restored?"

"Its been a long time my Queen but....." Rundar said hesitantly as he extended a paw slowly and concentrated. A bolt of energy shot out from his paw, blasting a pane of glass away. Sighing with relief, he quickly replaced it once more with his magic. Grinning from ear to ear, he turned toward his Queen and gave her a deep bow before asking, "am I fit enough now to go home, my Queen?"

"Oh yes, most certainly. I welcome you back among your people, Rundar. Ztoram, escort our newest subject to my throne room. I'll be there momentarily," the Queen said warmly.

Ztoram gave a quick nod of obedience and went to stand near Rundar. The former Mad Kat grinned happily and nodded at the Queen as well but turned to Feral and said warmly, "thank you so much Ulysses for everything."

"You are very welcome, Rundar and good luck to you," Feral said with equal warmth, very glad things had worked out so well for the lost Frendorian.

Still grinning with joy, Rundar and Ztoram vanished, the wizard following since he was no longer needed. The Queen turned to study Feral a moment.

"Are you sure you do not wish to return home as well Ulysses?" She asked, arching an eyebrow at him questioningly.

He shook his head adamantly.

"You'll be lonely here. You are unique among these creatures, no one will understand you nor be unafraid of what you are capable of. Always alone.....an outcast.....is this the life you wish to endure? At home you would be treated like royalty and could aid us in restoring our world to its former grandeur," She wheedled.

"You have Ztoram and now Rundar for that. You don't need me!" Feral said firmly.

"What about a mate or even sex? These Kats seem far too small to handle your....considerable assets."

"He already has someone who isn't afraid, who cares about him, and accepts him in both his forms," Callie suddenly interjected stoutly, coming to Feral's side and possessively wrapping an arm around his waist.

Feral looked down at her in surprise as did the rest of the occupants of the room who gasped in shocked amazement. All except for Ringtail, who scowled unhappily and the stranger who still remained huddled against the wall watching and wishing he could escape this strange and bewildering place.

The Queen's eyebrows rose in stunned disbelief as she asked, "aren't you some kind of official of this city.....I believe we met when I was here before. What do you mean you accept him......in what way?"

"I'm his lover!" She said with pride and defiance sparking from her eyes.

"And you're willing to be with him in his true shape......impossible......he's far too big for a little thing like you!" The Queen scoffed.

Feral had his mouth open to tell her to back off but Callie leaped in with fire in her eyes as she snapped, "I can handle him just fine thank you very much. We're not as small as you think and he's mine!"

The SWAT Kats gaped at her.

"Well, well.....so there are females here with fire and spirit," Queen Shlora murmured in pleased surprise then turned to Feral. "It seems you do have something to remain here for after all. Then I'll bid you farewell and wish you good fortune, Ulysses," she said with good grace, to Feral's amazed surprise. After giving Callie a last appraising look and a wink, she simply vanished.

Callie let out a loud sigh of relief then squeaked in surprise when a powerful pair of arms lifted her off her feet and gave her a fierce hug.

"My, I never realized you were such a firebrand, Callie," Feral chuckled, depositing a warm kiss to her neck then letting her down on her feet again.

Callie blushed hotly and muttered, "I couldn't just let that hussy take you from me."

"And I appreciate that, truly I do and I'll prove to you again later," Feral murmured heatedly.

The she-kat couldn't say another word. The SWAT Kats looked at each other and shook their heads, too stunned to comment on this new development. Who could have guessed Callie would have fallen head over heels for Feral. It just was too shocking to believe.

"Where am I?" A voice demanded.

The group startled. They had completely forgotten the strange Kat that had been locked in the spell with Ringtail and Rundar.

"Uh, who are you exactly?" Feral asked, eyeing the strange Kat.

"I am Sir Davidstar, a knight of King Thunderclaw's army. Now I demand to know where I am and who you all are and how did I come to be here with monsters and magician's," he demanded angrily.

"Hmm, well Sir Davidstar, you are two centuries into the future. What I'm wondering is where the heck you came from? We knew Ringtail's body was taken over by Mad Kat but didn't know there was someone else in there as well. Can you explain that to us?" Feral asked, confused.

Sir Davidstar eyed Feral warily but answered, "I had displeased my King and as my punishment, I was made part of a macabre experiment by his evil wizard, Draconis. I and the strange jester that had been in my liege's employ for years were forced to stand together while the foul creature did cast a most heinous spell upon us. I remember a garish red light then nothing until I awakened here in this benighted place."

"Why would this wizard combine two spirits like that?" Razor asked after a stunned silence by all.

"Possibly to enhance the power of the spell of enslavement or just to be cruel," Dr. Sinian said grimly. "Sir Davidstar did say he was being punished as was Rundar."

"That's just nasty," T-Bone growled.

"So this poor tom has been essentially in an enchanted sleep all these centuries," Callie said, a sad and sympathetic look on her face for the knight.

Feral frowned than glanced over at Ringtail. "Did you know this tom was with you when you merged with Mad Kat?"

Ringtail gave him a mulish look but he was also amazed by the knight's tale so decided to answer because he was curious too.

"No. I never sensed anyone else with me."

"That is truly weird but irrelevant now since there is no way to find out what happened since Rundar is now gone and can't answer our questions. What amazes me is the fact the Pastmaster never seemed to have noted or cared about Sir Davidstar either," Feral grunted, shaking his head. "So the only thing now of any concern is what do we do with this guy?"

T-Bone shrugged, having no clue while Katzmer and Callie shook their heads but Dr. Sinian and Razor had thoughtful looks on their faces.

"I'm afraid you are truly lost then....." Feral began to say to the knight before Razor cut him off.

"Wait, Commander. He might be lost for the moment but if the Pastmaster should show up, he could slip into the portal and get back at least close to his own time zone," he suggested.

"Well, perhaps but he could be here a long time before that creep shows up again. What do we do with him in the meantime?" Feral asked, not wanting to deal with this at all.

"Dr. Sinian, I would suggest you keep him at the museum in the medieval section which will seem more like home to him. We can't have him seeing too much of our world because if he manages to get home soon, we don't want him contaminating our time line," Razor said earnestly, eyeing the curator to see what she thought of the idea.

"Though the museum isn't in the habit of allowing people to live within its walls, I admit, this is an usual situation. I think I'll be able to find a way to make a temporary home for him in the medieval section and have my guards insure he doesn't wander from there. He could earn his keep by giving lectures on what life was like in ancient times. I know my colleagues will be drooling over having a life specimen from that era. It will certainly help us fill in a lot of gaps history left us with," she said getting more and more enthused about the prospect and what it could mean to the museum.

"That's a great idea. Though some contamination is going to happen.....if you can keep it to a minimum, he shouldn't have enough knowledge of the present to take back with him and we can hope that the Pastmaster makes an appearance very soon to send him home," Razor said, relieved to have found a solution to this problem.

"Now, see here....." the knight spluttered in angry indignation. There were talking about him as if he weren't here and deciding what to do with him like he was a piece of furniture.

"Believe me when I say, Sir Davidstar, your presence here is a threat to all Kat kind. You could accidentally destroy history as we know it and we can't risk that happening. Besides, I'm sure you would much rather return home to more familiar surroundings. That is exactly what we want to do but you cannot learn any more about us while we work to return you home. This solution is what's best for you and us. So we need you to abide by our rules for your own safety and well being. You won't be treated like a prisoner but a guest......a guest with limited privileges and mobility. This is the best we can do for you. Understood?" Feral asked.

The knight stared at Feral then the others in the room. This business about altering time itself sounded wild and unreal but he couldn't deny he was somewhere fantastic as he seen odd flying things that had passed the window and witnessed beings disappear into thin air before his very eyes. What more wonders there were.....he was uncertain he wanted to know or see.

The powerful tom spoke true, he did want to go home. This place tried his warrior's soul to the limit of its endurance. He was at their mercy since he had no clue how to escape this strange edifice and doubted he would be able to survive on his own in such a strange place.

Though, angry and afraid, at this moment, he was willing to do what they wanted if only to get away from this nightmare if that was possible.

"I understand and agree to your terms, sir, since I obviously do not have a choice in the matter. I do want to go home and if this is what I must do to accomplish that goal then I promise on my honor, to do as you ask," he said tightly, wrapping his tattered dignity around him. He would face his fate with all the bravery he possessed.

"Thank you. I know this is hard for you but we will take care of you the best we can and get you home soon," Feral told the knight. He sighed and turned to the SWAT Kats. "Would you two please escort Sir Davidstar and Dr. Sinian back to the museum?

"Sure, no problem, Commander. You need us to take Ringtail back to the nut house as well?" T-Bone asked, glad things had been settled. He felt sorry for the poor guy from the past.

"No, I'll have my enforcers handle that, thank you anyway," Feral demurred.

The SWAT Kats nodded then took a guard position on either side of the knight. Razor took out a handkerchief and indicated he would blindfold the knight. Tight lipped, the knight gave a stiff nod and stood still as his eyes were covered. He felt strong paws take each of his arms and begin to walk him forward.

Dr. Sinian followed the SWAT Kats through the door of Feral's office and on to the elevator where she pushed the button for the flight line. She was anxious and rather excited to get the knight to the museum.

For the knight, the trip was fraught with terror. He felt himself being lifted into the air then walked through a very noisy area and into some kind of hollow sounding space. He was seated then strapped into a strange chair. The paws were removed but a softer, feminine one rested on his tightly clasped paws.

"This will be scary for you but trust me, you will be alright," the voice of the female who would be his new jailer reassured him gently.

His body remained tense as he felt a deep rumble beneath him then a roar filled his ears and he felt a heavy pressure then movement that was unbelievably fast. He bit the inside of his cheek drawing blood as he kept himself from screaming in fright. He was extremely grateful when the strange and terrifying trip finally ended and he was walked into a much quieter place. The walk was several minutes long but at the end his blindfold was finally removed and he stared around at a place that look remarkable like home. He sighed in relief. If this was his new prison, it wasn't that bad.

Back at Enforcer Headquarters, Mr. Katzmer said farewell while Feral went to his intercom and called for some enforcers to take Ringtail back to the Megakat Psychiatric Prison. Ringtail had, amazingly enough, remained standing in the center of the office making no attempt to escape while looking around in tired resignation. Obviously, he wasn't all that crazy as he must have realized he couldn't possibly escape a building filled with enforcers.

It was only a wait of some five minutes before two burly enforcers arrived and took the quiet prisoner into custody leaving Feral and Briggs alone in the office at last. Sighing with relief, Feral and Callie were finally able to let go of the stress they'd been under for the past few hours.

"Well, I'm glad that's over and things can get back to normal. It feels so good to be rid of all our omegas and the city can finally enjoy some peace at last," Callie said with great feeling. "I wish it was the end of the day, but surprisingly we were able to solve our problems with plenty of daylight left so I guess I better get back to my own office and get that desk full of work waiting for me done."

Feral suddenly pulled her close before she could walk off and gave her a passionate kiss. Releasing her a moment later, he murmured, "don't work late, love....you and I have a date tonight and we now have a lot to celebrate."

"I promise," she whispered, when she could breathe again from that heated kiss. 'Oh yeah, tonight was going to be fantastic,' she thought, giving him a lingering sexy smile before turning to leave..

Feral watched her rear sway out his door, wishing he could just sweep her up and take her home now rather than have to wait until later. The day had ended up being a greater success than he'd ever dreamed it could have been. His adopted home was finally safe and he could now enjoy the finer things in life......like the warmth of a she-kat.

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I recently reread my story and realized to my horror that I forgot completely about Ringtail and I had the wrong name for the wizard that cast the spell. So this is a rewrite to put him in and what happened to him. Surprised no one caught that!**_


	19. Chapter 19

**BY THE QUEEN'S COMMAND**

**Chapter 19: Peace at Last**

After Callie's departure, Feral returned to the work waiting on his desk. Nothing, not even some new threat was going to ruin his good mood. He swept through the files, reports, and some late afternoon meetings with ease and to top off his day, the observatory called, later that afternoon, to report the Frendorian spaceship had left their solar system. He hummed with pleasure at the news.

Meanwhile, over at city hall, his honor the mayor had taken off to play golf after hearing about Dark Kat and Mad Kat being gone permanently but instead of being irritated, Callie just smiled to herself and dug into her work, grateful he wasn't around to load her with more work or interrupt her with constant requests.

She'd promised not to be late home tonight and by God, she was going to keep that promise.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

After escorting Dr. Sinian and the knight, Sir Davidstar to the museum, the SWAT Kats were about to leave when Dr. Sinian prevailed upon them to help her set up temporary quarters for the knight in a little used storage room located at the back wall and hidden from view of the public within the Medieval Exhibit Hall.

Agreeable to the task, the SWAT Kats went on a foraging trip: begged a huge wine barrel from a winery for the knight's bath tub, found parts for it in their own salvage yard to hook it up, and, for a toilet, they got located a small port-a-potty which was similar enough to a garderobe in a castle that would help him feel more at home. They begged or borrowed; straw, quilts, a down pillow, period clothing from a role-playing store, towels, washcloth, and fake fire place.

While the SWAT Kats were doing their errands, Dr. Sinian went on a hunt within her exhibit hall to find him other things he would need for his comfort and were familiar to him: a mattress (which the SWAT Kats were bringing the straw for) and it's wooden frame, rough sheets made of spun cotton, knife for a razor blade, metal plate, a silver chased cup, and fork, mirror, a metal basin, a lantern with lamp oil, a black cooking pot, a wooden table and chair, and a brush.

Returning from their foraging, the SWAT Kats set about getting the small space ready for the knights use. Razor used a little ingenuity and a small concession to modernity to provide water from a nearby bathroom to get the wine barrel to function as a tub and to provide a drain for the toilet. They stuffed the mattress and placed it on the bed which Dr. Sinian made up with the quilts and pillow.

The fireplace was put against the back wall, native trappings of the time period were put on the walls, the bed was set up on the right wall and the tub and toilet were set up on the left wall with a fanciful room divider providing privacy. Next to the fireplace a butcher's rack was set up and all his kitchen, serving gear, plus some food items were set on it. The small wooden table with the single chair were set in the center. The finishing touch was a working fire pit that Razor had set up in such a way to protect the floor and walls but allow a small fire to be laid so the knight could cook some of his own food should he choose to do so.

When they were finished, the room was rather claustrophobic to the modern Kats but was perfect to Sir Davidstar when he was shown the place for the first time.

He was thoroughly amazed by all they had done for him, even the added touch of an ancient bible nearly made a tear fall from his eyes with pleased pleasure. The wine tub was a touch he never expected and was enchanted by the fact all he had to do was turn a knob on the barrel to get water and that it was already hot and the sheer amazement at the small toilet that flushed. As he stood in the center of the room while his hosts stared at him through the small doorway, he was overwhelmed by these people's generosity and concern for his welfare by all the things they thought to put in here.

"This is truly wonderful. Thank you, all," he said with heartfelt sincerity.

The SWAT Kats gave him a cheery grin and a wave farewell as they left to finally go home. They were bushed.

"You are most welcome, Sir Davidstar. I've even managed to find a food preparer who will do his best to provide you with the food you are used to. Our modern food might cause you some digestive problems," Dr. Sinian said, smiling warmly at him, after waving goodbye to the two vigilantes. "I do have a question for you..."

"Yes, milady?"

"Do you have any smith crafting skills?"

"Yes. All knights need to possess other skills and I wert taught that art as a youngling."

"Excellent. Then to keep you fit and engaged, we have an old blacksmith's shop on exhibit, complete in every detail we knew about. The SWAT Kats have provided you with plenty of scrap metal for you to mold into anything you wish to keep you occupied. Would that please you?

She thought about how innovative Razor had been making the forge safe to use within the building. That had her worried. He had erected a protective firewall so flames and sparks wouldn't escape the area and ruin the exhibit then ran a vent system to the ceiling to insure the smoke and steam left the building and didn't set off the fire alarms and sprinklers. He'd done the same for the little fireplace in his room.

He grinned widely. "It would indeed, milady."

"That's good. While you work at your forge, people will be watching. I would appreciate you explaining what you're doing and telling people about what life was like back in your time. You'll function as a living piece of history teaching our people more about their past. In this way you'll be earning your keep as you wished to do and getting much needed exercise as well."

"A formidable task but one I will accomplish as best I can, thank you milady. "

"You are very welcome. Before we leave you to get settled in, I'd like to introduce you to the guards that will be keeping you safe and that also guard this museum." She turned and gestured for four, uniformed dressed males waiting patiently behind her. They comprised the day and night shifts.

She had stressed, when she briefed them on their temporary guest, that the knight was restricted to this room and not allowed to wander outside it for any reason for his safety and less exposure to all things modern if it could be helped. She warned them to be extra vigilant when visitors came to see the knight and including themselves, that any modern device be kept to the barest minimum. The guards were understandably confused until they met the real knight from the past and though surprised and awed at seeing a real knight from the past, they well understood now why it was important to keep him from being contaminated from all things modern. It would be hard to keep visitors to the museum from sneaking out a camera or phone but they would do their best, even to hiding their own modern equipment whenever they came into this room.

She introduced them to Sir Davidstar who gravely nodded at each of them, committing their faces to memory.

Sighing in relief that everything she could do had been done, she urged everyone out, leaving the exhausted knight alone for the first time. The Medieval Wing would be closed for a few days to allow him time to adjust to just being free from the curse.

Though grateful to be finally awake and aware, he was still bewildered and angry at his incarceration, for it couldn't be called anything else since he had no real freedom. But, despite his ire, he had to admit, these strangers had done everything in their power, which was considerable from what he'd observed, to make him as comfortable as they could. Accepting his lot, as any knight would do, he got on with learning his new, temporary home.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"What a week this has been," Razor sighed as he stripped off his g-suit after their return to the hangar.

Fixing up that room at the museum had taken the rest of the day and into part of the night, which had been long already, so they were both exhausted.

"You said it!" T-Bone groaned, his body stiff and sore. "Be glad to get back to normal again and what's even better, we are minus three major omegas...life is sweet!"

"Now if only we can make the Pastmaster take a permanent powder, we'll finally be able to relax."

"Are you ready to quit being a SWAT Kat?" Chance asked, thinking about how few serious enemies they had left as they made for the ladder to go upstairs.

"No, I love the thrill of being a hero too much, however, I like that the danger will be a little less for a while. We really do need a break," Jake said with certainty.

"I agree with you there...hmm...looks like we didn't miss any customers. That's good and no appointments tomorrow...even better. Means we can sleep in," Chance said, smiling tiredly, after checking their message in the garage office. "So it shouldn't be too late to order pizza...how many you want," he asked his partner as they completely closed the shop.

"I want two at least, I'm really hungry. Make mine with plenty of meat and anchovies!"

"You got it," Chance said, reaching for the phone to order before going upstairs to their apartment.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

All over the city the work day had wound down and evening was settling in. At Enforcer Headquarters, Feral had closed the last report on his desk and tossed it into his out basket. He locked up some sensitive records in a secure drawer then left his desk to retrieve his coat.

Humming happily to himself, he locked his office then made for the elevator. Other departing workers smiled at him when they saw he was in a great mood, it meant things were going well. The lobby was filled with departing and arriving enforcers as shift change got into full swing.

Feral wended his way through them and stepped outside. Making for his hummer parked at the curb, he climbed in then eased his way into traffic. He planned on picking up dinner at one of his favorite eateries, having already ordered it before leaving his office.

He only had to wait a few minutes in line before picking up his hot meal. Making his way hurriedly to his apartment, he parked, picked up the food, then walked rapidly for the elevator in the parking garage. Reaching his apartment, he put the food in the microwave to stay warm while he quickly changed his clothes. He dressed casually as he didn't expect to be keeping his clothes on very long after they ate. He got heated just thinking about what he wanted to do to Callie tonight.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

At city hall, Callie sighed, glanced at the clock on the wall and gasped in dismay. "Oh...I'm running late...I've got to hurry."

She shoved her finished work into a pile then took it to the secretary's in basket before returning to her office and fishing her purse from a lower drawer of her desk. Leaving, after locking the office behind her, she rushed to the elevator. No one else was around, having left an hour earlier.

Reaching her new vehicle which replaced her totally destroyed sedan, she was relieved the traffic was light as she edged over the speed limit a bit to get home quicker. At her apartment, she dashed to the elevator, got off, then raced to her door. Slipping inside, leaving the door unlocked, she ran to her bedroom, threw her purse onto the bed, stripped her clothes off and dashed for the shower.

She'd just barely gotten dressed and was brushing her hair when she heard her door open and a jovial voice call out, "Callie?"

"I'm finishing getting ready, Ulysses...make yourself to home," she sang back. It took her a another few seconds to realize she hadn't gotten an answer.

Giving herself a final look, she was about to turn when suddenly a warm body pressed against her back, arms wrapped around her with his paws palming her breasts. She couldn't help but smirk as she stared at her lover in her mirror.

"You smell delicious...want to have some exercise before dinner," he rumbled suggestively in her ear.

She shivered, her body going warm and gooey as he nibbled on her neck. "But I just got cleaned up and dressed..." she protested then her stomached growled loudly, "...and I'm hungry."

"So I can hear!" He chuckled. "Alright, let's go get the food down us. I got us something particularly nice for dinner. I knew you'd still end up working late and not have time to cook," he smirked, keeping his arm around her and leading her to her kitchen.

"Oh, that was so thoughtful of you. I did only just get in and I had no thought of what to make for dinner. Hmmm, that smells delicious. Another one of your surprises?" She asked as she got out plates and silverware while Ulysses found the glasses and poured them some wine from her stock.

"You'll see," he rumbled in amusement as he got the food out and served it up.

They sat down to a delicious Italian meal she'd not had before.

"Where do you find all these wonderful meals? What is this one? It's amazingly good and a bit spicy," she commented, sipping her wine and eating a bread stick to cool her tongue.

"Remember, I like spicy food and I'm pleased to say Genova's delivers on that for me. These are Agnolatti: stuffed pasta with parmasan cheese, pot roast, pork loin, and sausage with an excellent meat sauce and just for me they add spicy chili peppers to the sauce. This other dish is a wonderful salted salmon, and finally these are spicy stuffed onions. Dessert is pear/apple fritters," he told her proudly.

"Oh my, everything tastes incredible. I would have thought the fish would be too salty if they bake it with salt but it's not and it's the most moist fish I've ever had," Callie gushed as she sampled everything. "I'm not normally partial to onions but these are incredible...filled with sausage are they?" She asked as she nibbled away at a succulent onion oozing with juicy goodness.

"Yes it is and I'm glad you're enjoying it," he said, grinning at her as he served up more fish and onions for himself. "And in answer to your previous question...where do I find this food...once I discovered how good the food on this planet was, I've been exploring all over the city."

"Well it certainly shows and the way you eat, Ulysses, I would have thought you would be nearly as round as the mayor," she teased.

"If I was a Kat, I most likely would be despite my exercise regimen but my metabolism just burns it off and leaves me hungry frequently. That's one of the things I didn't want the Queen to know about and the other reason I didn't want to leave. The food here is spectacular."

Callie laughed. "You fit that old adage my mother used to try and shove down my throat. The way to a tom's heart is through his stomach. Who knew she would be right...almost as if she knew I would be dealing with someone like you to cook for."

He laughed. "We'll if you want to, you're welcome to do it but there are so many more places I have that are my favorites and so many more I haven't even tried yet."

"An adventurer! I can see it now...we'll never have a cooked meal at home ever again," she smirked in amusement.

He just smiled at her.

He helped her clear the table, packing the leftovers into the fridge for later. They were pleasantly stuffed and Callie suggested they eat their fritters and wine before the TV to allow their stomachs to digest before moving onto more energetic activities.

They spent a wonderful and heated night together, a celebration of both freedom from the city's troubles and an affirmation of their new relationship.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_**Epilogue...**_

Since that exciting period where most of the omegas had been disposed of, many things had happened in the city.

The first was the appearance, finally, of the Pastmaster. It had been over two months since the Frendorians left when the ugly little sorcerer charged back into their lives on a typically stormy night. His portal appeared in the air over Megakat Park while the SWAT Kats were on patrol.

Spotting it, they quickly notified Feral on the enforcer frequency before engaging the wizard and his dragon mount. Oddly, the Pastmaster was alone...only the mini dragon he was riding...no other dragons or mythological creatures... and it appeared he was on a mission because of the way he came ready for battle from his portal.

The Turbokat had just gotten within range when he blasted them with his magical pocket watch.

"Crud! Look out T-Bone!" Razor yelled too late, as the jet's right engine took the magical burst straight on.

T-Bone growled as he fought his controls to bring the jet down safely. The burst had fried the jet's electrical system causing multiple shutdowns making the jet unable to remain airborne.

Razor prepared to bail if T-Bone couldn't control the jet enough to bring it down safely. His jaw tensed as the jet sank lower and lower to the ground, moving a bit too fast. By more luck than skill, T-Bone got the jet to go to VTOL and was able to affect a straight down landing into the street.

Shaken and very angry at the damage to his jet, T-Bone shot the canopy back and scowled upward at the Pastmaster as the evil wizard laughed down at them then made his dragon fly in the direction of the museum.

"I swear, I can't understand how the museum could hold so many things that guy wants," T-Bone growled in annoyance as he and his partner went into the cargo hold.

"Neither do I. Guess we'll have to go find out what it is this time," Razor grunted as he mounted his cyclotron.

Moments later they launched their bikes from the back of their crippled jet and raced off toward the museum.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Feral and his Enforcers had arrived to see the tail end of the battle. Relieved the pair had managed to land safely, he ordered his squadron to follow the wizard. He mused on how it was perfect for all concern that the Pastmaster was going to the museum. With a lot of luck they would manage to get rid of the pest once and for all and, hopefully, get Sir Davidstar home as well.

He was praying his true form would startle the evil wizard long enough for the SWAT Kats or himself to disarm the creature then use the watch themselves, if possible. However, he wasn't sure if just anyone could use it though.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Both parties arrived just behind the Pastmaster who had blasted a hole in the roof of the museum and left his mount behind to guard his rear. Despite its size, the dragon could spit flames and was doing a good job of keeping the Enforcer choppers at bay. Ignoring the battle behind him, the Pastmaster floated down to the floor.

As he made for the Byzantine Exhibit, the SWAT Kats and Feral with a small squad of Enforcers entered the building at the front entrance, standing in the lobby a moment to get their bearings. At that moment, one of the museum's security guards ran up and told them where the Pastmaster had been spotted. They followed him back to the indicated exhibit but halted just outside the door, peering in cautiously.

"What the heck does he want in there," Razor hissed in confusion as he and T-Bone looked for a way to get in the room without the Pastmaster seeing them until they were close enough to take him out.

"No telling, but we better get to him before he finds it," Feral hissed softly behind him. "I'll distract him while you two try and get that watch from him." He signaled for his Enforcers to remain out in the hall.

"Roger," T-Bone whispered back, readying himself, only a little surprised that Feral wanted them to actually help him take down the omega but then things between them had become more friendly which made it easier for all of late.

Feral altered to his Frendorian form and leaped forward, spreading his wings so he was airborne in seconds and flying toward the Pastmaster before the wizard was aware of him.

The evil wizard was focused on a long exhibit case filled with various jewels, daggers, pieces of pottery and other artifacts. He heard something swish in the air close to him and jerked around with his watch held out.

His one eye widened in confused shock, his watch held out but his mouth unable to say a word so stunned was he by the apparition nearly on top of him.

Using that moment to his advantage, Feral fired an energy bolt from his paw and sent the watch flying from the wizard's skeletal paw. The Pastmaster screamed in anger and surprise, shaking off his shock and firing magical energy at the strange creature from what he stored in his body.

The SWAT Kats, meantime, snuck in quickly and Razor grabbed the watch, the two of them taking cover before firing on the Pastmaster from two directions. T-Bone fired a net missile while Razor fired a tarpedo. Feral fired his energy bolts yet again and the combined attack overwhelmed the wizard, sending him flying into a large stone plinth, knocking him unconscious.

Knowing he wouldn't be out long, the three quickly ran to the body and tied him up with nylon cord, something they had since discovered the wizard couldn't break free from.

"Alright! That worked well. Now all we have to do is try and make this watch work for us," Razor said.

Dr. Sinian, who had been staying out in the hall until the battle was over, came into the room followed by Sir Davidstar.

"I believe the only one who could actually use that is Ms. Briggs. My research has shown she is descended of Queen Callista as you had guessed, Razor," she said.

"Really? Well that's certainly hopeful news. Feral you should send a chopper for her since I don't think she'd like riding back here on our bikes. The Turbokat was shot down," Razor told the Commander.

"Yeah, I saw it go down. Hope it isn't too badly damaged," Feral said, as he pulled his radio out and called a chopper to go get Ms. Briggs. When he finished his order, he put the radio away and pulled out a phone instead from his equipment belt as he wore only a tight fitting spandex kind of uniform which didn't hold much. "Callie, I'm sending a chopper for you ... no ...will explain when you get to the museum. See you in a few minutes," then he closed his phone and put it away. "Now all we can do is wait," he said to the others.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"I hope she can use this thing," Feral commented, staring at the watch Razor was examining. "It will be a relief to finally be rid of this pest and I'm sure you'd be happy to go home too, Sir Davidstar."

"On that we both agree, Commander," the knight said fervently. His time here had been trying and strange despite what all these modern people had done for him. This just wasn't home and he felt very much out of place plus he was hardily tired of answering the same questions day after day to the many visitors.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

A windblown and out of breath, Callie hurried in led by an Enforcer. "So what was the emergency and why are we here? Oh! It's the Pastmaster! You've caught him," she said with relief seeing the unconscious and thoroughly tied up sorcerer on the floor by Razor and T-Bone.

A groggy moan let them know the Pastmaster was waking up. His one eye blinked then focused on Callie. "Callista!" He called out dazedly.

Shaking her head in disgust, Callie ignored him and went to her friend, Dr. Sinian's side.

Abi gave her a small smile. "Callie, we're hoping you can send the Pastmaster away and Sir Davidstar home at last. My research has lead me to believe you are a descendent of Queen Callista. Which means there's a very good chance magic runs through your genes. It is hoped this is true so you can use the watch and a spell to do what we need. So with that in mind, let's do this..." She heaved a heavy book she had been holding onto one of the display cabinets then opened it to a certain page she had already marked with a thin piece of paper.

Everyone moved closer to her and waited while the while the SWAT Kats kept a watchful eye on their prisoner.

"Here we are. This was the closest thing I could find to what we want...come here beside me Callie and speak the words I say exactly as I say them," Abi said. "Are you ready?"

"I guess so."

Abi read the words, that were in an ancient language, slowly and distinctly while Callie mimicked her as best she could. Abi insisted they do it a couple more times before she felt the blond she-kat had said it with perfection.

"Okay, if you would give her the watch Commander and everyone step back..." Abi ordered.

Feral handed the watch to his lover and the SWAT Kats dragged the protesting Pastmaster to one side of Callie before stepping back as well.

"Very well, hold the watch up and point it at that empty spot in the room. Concentrate on making a portal appear there as you repeat the words again after me."

Callie nodded nervously, held the watch up as she'd been instructed, and thought about what she wanted. When she was ready she nodded again and Abi began to chant with Callie echoing her.

At first nothing seemed to happen then, gradually, a swirling purple haze began to appear. Soon the swirling air began moving faster and faster until a funnel was created. It began to draw on the things in the room, trying to pull them into it.

"Here, say this quickly!" Abi shouted a new set of words over the roar of sound.

Callie hurriedly shouted the same words. The pulling sensation stopped but the portal remained hovering, with little lightning bolts shooting through it.

"Okay, we have our portal...now what?" Callie asked.

"According to this, you give it a command of where you want it to go then Sir Davidstar can just jump through," Abi explained.

"Okay, I guess. Are you ready Sir Davidstar?" Callie asked, looking at the grim knight standing nervously across from her.

"As ready as I can be, good lady," he said tightly.

"Understand, I can't be sure we're doing this correctly..." Callie began.

"It matters not, good lady. I wish to go and will take my chances as they may well be my only opportunity."

"I understand then I wish you good luck and safe journey, sir," Callie said then gave the time period they wanted then nodded at the knight. He gave them a wave farewell and leaped into the portal. For a brief moment they saw a castle in the distance and a medieval setting, all hoped it was the right one then the portal went blank and waited once more.

"Okay, that seemed to have worked, I hope...so now where do we want to send the Pastmaster?" She asked.

"How about the dinosaur age? No one there for him to subvert or use to get anywhere," T-Bone suggested.

"A very good idea...go ahead Callie," Feral said, a cold smile on his lips as he gave the Pastmaster a triumphant look.

The wizard gaped at them in shocked horror, his voice stunned to silence.

Callie gave the command and Feral swiftly grabbed the wizard and tossed him, screaming into the portal, the wizard finding his voice at last, too late to do him any good. The last command Callie gave the portal was to vanish which it did with a bright blink of light.

There was a ragged cheer from all of them with Feral giving Callie a tight hug as he spun her around. The watch was still clutched in her paw as he let her go once more. She was breathless and grinning from ear to ear with happiness.

"Here, Abi, you should keep this with the book for safe keeping," she said handing over the watch.

"Good idea. It's a great relief to finally be rid of that menace," Abi Sinian said with a sigh of relief.

"Amen to that. Hey, we still have a dragon to deal with!" Razor said suddenly.

"You're right!" Feral agreed, suddenly taking to flight, soaring to the ceiling and out into the open air in time to see the dragon down yet another of his choppers. It was getting tired, he could tell but it was still very dangerous. Here was hoping his energy bursts would be up to the task of ridding them of the creature.

While it was turned away from him he snuck up closer and unleashed his energy in a heavy burst at the center of the beast. It screamed and tried to turn around to face him but Feral never relented and kept up the barrage until the creature gave another scream then combusted into ash.

Exhausted, Feral slowly floated to the ground where he dropped to his knees and tried to catch his breath. Callie and the SWAT Kats ran out to meet him.

"Ulysses, are you alright?" Callie asked anxiously as she reached his curled form.

"Yeah, just winded and really tired," he told her, a tired grin on his face.

"Way to go, Commander. Now we are free!" T-Bone said with an ear to ear grin.

Feral just smiled, pleased by the outcome.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~

A month later, the city put on a huge parade and week long celebration honoring their heroes and their freedom from the tyranny of the omegas. Mayor Manx officially gave Feral permanent sanctuary and Katizenship to their city and their world in payment for his part in bringing peace to his adopted home.

Feral and Callie deepened their relationship and finally came to the realization that they wanted to live together. As she'd thought, their most fun activity was finding new and interesting places to eat though Callie had to work hard to keep her svelte figure from all the good food. Of course, Feral's fantastic love making helped keep her weight down as well.

As for the SWAT Kats, Razor did what he'd planned and paid off their debt to the enforcers. Though still responsible for running the salvage yard, each now had time to pursue other things. T-Bone chose to be a test pilot while Razor became a top weapons designer making money hand over fist. They finally had the free time to date, finding true happiness at last.

And they didn't have to give up being SWAT Kats as there was plenty of weird experiments that went wrong or gangs that tried to move into the city and cause trouble to keep them busy.

But overall, Megakat City was enjoying a golden age of peace and prosperity for the first time in over ten years.


End file.
